ADVENT- DAY 8 - ANTICIPATION

 Surprises are really rare in life.  I have had a few--some breath takingly wonderful and some heart breaking.  Christmas was most filled with surprises when I was a girl.  Though I might have had a list, most of the time the list was ignored and instead I was totally surprised on Christmas morning.  I now understand the importance and delight of anticipating surprises--although, truthfully---I am not a fan of surprise in my old age.  My own grandchildren make a list of their "wants" and we all work from it.  NOW---I certainly hope they get gifts they want--and will enjoy, but the anticipation of surprise is lost.  How can you be surprised when you open a gift you listed on your want list?    I think of the movie "A Christmas Story" and poor Ralphie whose Aunt always managed to surprise--or perhaps horrify him.

Poor Ralphie lived not in anticipation but dread for what Christmas would bring.  ALL he wanted was a Red Ryder BB Gun---but no one was listening it seemed.  

Have you not sometimes had the let down feeling once Christmas day arrived?  We spend a great deal of time preparing for Christmas in anticipation of creating the "Perfect Celebration".  This could lead to sheer and utter exhaustion once the day came and went.  We had managed to create an impossible scenario in our heads by rushing around preparing for what was bound to leave us empty and hallow.  Our belief of what it took to create the perfect Christmas mostly centered around "earthly things" and we left little space or time for "heavenly things".  I think of the walks on Christmas Eve in the hush quiet of the crisp winter air, the moments before a crackling fire gazing into the flames in reflection of that first Christmas, and the hush of quiet that finally settled us all down that night before the  big day.  Yes---those simple--rare moments---of true anticipation of that first Christmas were perhaps the true gems of Christmas.    My wish for all of us this Advent season is that we will live in the state of Great Anticipation as we prepare our hearts for the celebration of the Birth of the Long Awaited Messiah!  Praise God For His Gift to all mankind!

"But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart."

Luke 2:19