Christmas has finally come and gone. We have spent however much time preparing and once again we have arrived. All this preparation and what does it actually mean in the end?
As children, we often wished Christmas were every day. We hoped and dreamed that we would get everything that we wanted and that this Christmas, we would get the perfect gift and be satisfied. There was so much anticipation looking at all the wrapped gifts and often so much of a letdown when we opened one and did not get what we wanted, And we would quickly abandon it for another shiny wrapped gift with the hopes that maybe this next present would be the one.
No matter how many gifts we received and opened, there was always a chance that we ended the day in disappointment; is this not how many adults still behave? We put our hopes and expectations in our careers, our relationships, our families but our expectations are not rooted in reality and so we feel continuously let down. We think to ourselves, maybe this time our parents will show us the love and respect we desperately want. Maybe this new relationship will finally satisfy the longing we feel. Maybe this new career will be the dream job we always hoped for. The sad truth is, just like when we were children, we feel let down over and over again. Again, our unrealist
ic hopes and expectations lead us into a downward spiral of misery.
So how do we stop spiraling out of control? Our expectations must first be centered around God. Expectations in people and the world will always send us into a downward spiral. However, even as believers, we still put unrealistic expectations in God. So what are the right expectations we are to have? We are to celebrate Christmas in remembrance that God sent His Son to become a human, live a human life on this earth, live as an example to us, and then die, completely innocent as a sacrifice to give us a way out of our inevitable downward spiral. We are to remember that God says what He means and means
what He says. Based on this, let us go to God in anticipation
and hold Him to His promises. Let us get real with Him and be honest about our hopes and expectations. Let us ask Him to show us what He has promised we are to have our expectations in.