Our grandchildren love Christmas. The anticipation of opening presents is almost more than they can bear. There are frequent trips to the Christmas tree to examine name tags and discover which packages belong to them and find out who has the biggest presents.
When can we open presents? Is that big one for me? Where’s mine? I get to go first.
One by one the presents are unwrapped (it’s a family tradition for one person to open a present while the rest watch – then the next person, etc.). The tradition makes the evening last longer but is sometimes frustrating to little ones who want to tear into everything.
In some cases they have been waiting for a particular gift for weeks or months or even since last Christmas. Waiting now seems like forever. “I can’t wait any more,” is the phrase of the day.
How long would I wait for something really important? Would I wait a day, a week, a month, a year – what about years or decades?
The Jews believed a Messiah would come – He had been promised. Hundreds – thousands of years passed and no Messiah. Millions had waited but went to their graves without ever seeing Him.
Then He came – not as a warrior as some expected but as a lamb. He wasn’t born in a palace but in a stable. Only a few could accept that He was the long awaited Messiah. He wasn’t what they were expecting and many (most) did not believe in Him.
There are still people who have difficulty believing in Him. Perhaps He isn’t what people were expecting. Jesus came as an unchanging gift of grace. We cannot change who He is to fit what I want Him to be. All He asks is that we accept for who He is and whaat He came to do.
As I anticipate Christmas, it is not about the giving and receiving of gifts. It is not even about family gatherings. It is about time alone worshiping the greatest gift ever given.
