ADVENT- DAY 9- EXPECTATIONS

 I find it very interesting when I think of a word exactly what my first association is with the word,  (That's a bit of a tongue-twister)  I must admit, this Advent Reflections has not gone exactly to my expectations.  The plan was after Thanksgiving I would come home and pre-write at least a week's worth of blogs in expectation of not being stressed.  WHO KNEW--as I drove home from Austin- with each mile I felt worse and worse.  By the time I got home, I was really sick.  The plan I had completely fell apart when I spent the next ten days in bed---feeling as if one of those 18 wheelers had run over me on the way home.  I was so sick---I just lay in bed hoping to sleep---not even feeling like watching television.  The good news--I took the funeral home off speed dial --the bad news---getting my strength back is slow going.  I had NO expectation of this flu like illness knocking the blocks out from under my execution  of my plan.  AND actually where I was going when I started all of this is what I thought of when God put this word in my head this morning--GREAT EXPECTATIONS---came to mind.  That timeless well loved novel written by Charles Dickens himself. 

As I walked, I thought about what expectations the shepherds must have had for the baby following their visit by the Angels.  Why first an angel appears with news of a savior being born--the Promised Messiah.  And then they were treated to a Heavenly Concert.  With all that fanfare--what must their expectations have been?  They travel to Bethlehem to gaze upon the new born king with GREAT EXPECTATIONS.  What did they find?  No trappings of royalty---no big celebration---they found a teenage mother in a stable with a dirt floor and an ordinary baby in a manager where the animals had eaten.  What must the discussion have been after they returned to the herd?  HOW can this be?  There was nothing extraordinary about this baby---it was just another baby---except the circumstances around the birth of this baby were the meagerest of the meager.  How could this possibly be the Messiah?  And yet God----works all things according to His perfect plan.  The baby was born as foretold---he was God's Son---and yet, mystery of all mysteries---he was man.  How we all would love to hear the conversation--or perhaps lack of conversation---when the shepherds pondered all they had seen and compared their expectations with the reality of the birth.  One thing is certain---as I ponder all of this--I have GREAT EXPECTATIONS for the day I see Jesus face to face.  GREAT EXPECTATIONS!

"When the angels had departed from them into heaven,

the shepherds began saying to one another,

'Let's go straight to Bethlehem, then, and see this thing that has happened,

which the Lord has made know to us.' "

Luke 2:15