Why I… love Christmas and the holiday season.

Like most people I love the holiday season because of all the festivities and excitement that is built up during this time. People are generally in a happier mood and are more generous whether with their money, time, energy, or love. I love when people are genuinely happy and content. When somebody is genuinely happy, you can tell. Something is different about the whole person’s demeanor. The way they talk is different. The way they interact with people is different. They are more bold and unashamed of the place they are in at the moment. They are less likely to be fazed by the all the negativity that surrounds us. Something is truly different about the happy and content person.

The holidays — Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s — remind me so much of a longing and anticipation that we all have within us. There is something about our lives that we all know we need and want but often end up feeling short after the build up and festivities wear out and end. We get stuck in short moments and seasons of excitement, and when those seasons end, our hopes and happiness waver leaving us looking for more.

BUT the beauty of the Advent season and Christmas and the new year is not meant to simply point us to the next year where we repeat short seasons of temporary and superficial happiness until we die. Christmas is meant to point us to the fuller story of our lives — the gospel story which tells us that Christ emptied himself of all glory and descended from heaven to become a weak and lowly human to bring restoration to a fallen world and people. Christmas and the gospel story is about bringing us back to God and restoring us as the people God intended us to be for his glory and for our deep, lasting, and ultimate joy.

Christmas is great because there are presents waiting to be opened on Christmas day. Alexa, Max, and Zero can hardly wait to open all their gifts (Yes. We got Alexa a box of Mandarin orange fruit cups in that picture above.). There’s a deep longing, build-up, and daily anticipation to unwrap presents that is finally satisfied on Christmas morning. This is our life story.

Christmas reminds me of the entirety of our lives. Our lives are one big Christmas story, and we’re all waiting for Christmas day. We are longing for and are in anticipation of a final and ultimate Christmas when Christ returns to make all things new and ushers in eternity that lasts. As we grasp more of the reality of this story, we can begin to live life with purpose being genuinely selfless and loving and bold and passionate and unashamed and content and joyful and worshipful. Our longings for Christ and the build-up and anticipation of our ultimate redemption will be finally satisfied and truly fulfilled and overflowing with a lasting joy on that final day. This is our story.