The thrill of hope

It's Christmas time. I love this time of year. When you're a child, Christmas is where it's at. Everything is magical and special and the most amazing thing you have ever seen... being a kid at Christmas is something we all experience, but we don't cherish it until we are older. We assume, as children, that Christmas is this great for everyone, young and old. We don't know anything about budgets and long lines and grumpy people, we only see the wonder of the Season. We saw the gifts under the tree and didn't even begin to comprehend their cost. We saw the stores full of shoppers and were excited by the hustle and bustle. We didn't even notice grumpy people because we ourselves were full of kindness. We can really learn so much from our children.

When I was 5 years old, my dad bought our first real live Christmas tree. Mom and daddy had just moved us into our first ever brand new home. I was convinced we were filthy rich because we had all white carpets and mom and dad had a JACUZZI in their bathroom. It was awesome. Just sayin. We had vaulted ceilings in the living room. I'm not quite sure how high they were, but I was pretty short back then ( because I'm a whopping 5'1 now, so I can use short like it's a thing of the past.) and it felt like the ceiling was miles above me. Daddy brought home a tree that was so tall, the Angel's head was squished against the ceiling. There she was, in all her white taffeta angelic glory, blonde curls cascading down her back and forehead pressed firmly against the white peak of the vaulted walls. Mom and dad went all out that Christmas. They bought fancy ( Wal-Mart) ornaments and daddy even bought some of the jumbo ornaments that were as big as my little chili bowl hair cutted ( not a real word) head. I remember sitting at the foot of that tree, listening to the Carpenter's Christmas album on my mom's old record player ( we kept it old school at the Thomas house) and just being in awe of my life. Here I was, 5 years old, and I lived in a house with all white new carpet AND a jacuzzi with a Christmas tree that was miles high and ornaments as big as my head. My life was simply too good. I had no idea the value of money. I didn't understand that my house was just an ordinary house and that there were many tree's that were taller... I just saw what I had and knew that it was enough. It was so much more than enough. The ending of this story is that I decided to take down one of the huge ornaments and dance around the room to some sort of impromptu interpretive dance and I dropped it and broke it and promptly hid all the evidence under the couch. Two lessons here: 1. clearly our fancy carpet needed a better padding system. How did it break on CARPET?? and 2. I had moments of goodness and moments of not so goodness. sue me.

At church last night, we continued talking about Advent. Before the birth of Christ, the people were desperate to see the Messiah. They were eagerly awaiting the arrival of their King. It's funny because I know that they expected just that... a king. They weren't looking for a helpless baby to guide them to freedom. I love God's divine wisdom. He's so beautiful is all senses of the word. God sent the hope of the world in the form of a baby. When a woman is pregnant, we all wait for the birth. We anticipate it, we talk about it, we speculate about when exactly it will happen. Before modern technology and of course in Biblical times, there were signs of the pregnancy ( parrallel it to prophecies in the old testament) there were contractions ( angel visits Mary) and then there was the actual birth ( Jesus is born, this one isn't really abstract) You didn't know exactly when it was coming, only that it WAS coming. The people cried out to God for their Messiah. They begged him to respond, and he did... in a way they all could all relate to.

I love O Holy Night and we sang it last night at church. My favorite line is " the thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices for yonder breaks, a new and glorious morn"

The thrill of hope.

HOPE

Hope is a chance. Hope is a future, it is a shot, an opportunity, a way made. Hope is being one day late and thinking " this could be it". Hope is hearing testimony from couple's who tried to have children and thought they had lost hope, only to conceive. Hope is seeing the child you're going to adopt and saying "he's mine"

Hope is Jesus and his plan for your life.

This is the season of hope

God granted you salvation through a baby

He knows your desires and what's to say he won't grant you joy through a baby once again?

Keep hoping. The new morning is coming and it's pretty glorious my friends...

we press on,
LB