Peace of Expectation [CHOOSING JOY by Katie Albers]

Expectation is exciting but a little uncomfortable.  It is hopeful with a dash of unsure.  It looks to the future but is filtered through the past.  I think this juxtaposition is why most people enjoy Christmas so much.  We have memories of certain experiences in the past that we want to either recreate or renovate.  We anticipate the fun of the decorations and the music and the food and the people, but we become anxious of the planning and the preparations and the complications.  This time of year is all about the tension of expectation.

Being a mother, I can imagine that 2000 years ago this was a time of expectation for Mary and Joseph as well.  They were awaiting their first child, and it is quite likely that Mary was familiar with women who had had trouble in child birth.  In her uneasy moments she might have repeated the angel’s words to herself, “The Lord is with me.  I will conceive and give birth to a son, and I am to call him Jesus.  His kingdom will never end.”  (Luke 1:28, 31, 33 NIV)  Perhaps Joseph reassured her with the words of the Psalmist, “I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in His Word I put my hope.” (Psalm 130:5 NIV)  Because, after all, what else can you do when you are expecting a baby but wait?

So this year, as I try to create a wonderful Christmas experience for my loved ones, I am going to make it a priority to pause each day to put my hope in God’s Word.   Just as Joseph and Mary dreamed about and anticipated the birth of their special child, I will dream about and anticipate His return.  This Christmas season there will be joyful peace on my little piece of earth because God’s peace has already come.