Who Knew?

Christmas is less than two months away. Soon, most of you will begin doing the normal Christmas things-buying presents, listening to Christmas music, decorating, and possibly even baking and making holiday treats. The holiday spirit will be in full swing. Stores have been working to put you in this mindset already, putting out Christmas trinkets, decorations, and everything else the minute Halloween passed.

I wonder if Joseph and Mary felt a similar excitement and anticipation. They had both been visited by angels who told them that God is getting ready to do something great. As Mary's pregnancy drew to the end, I can't begin to understand how they dealt with it? I remember the emotion that was going through Steph and me as we were getting closer to Hannah's birth. How were Mary and Joseph's families handling it all? God had told them He was coming to earth through the birth of their baby. That was, and still would be, a big thing!

My mind has been chewing on these things since I read through the first part of Luke last week. Luke paints a glorious picture. There is anticipation of the coming baby within the expectant families, scores of angels proclaiming His birth to shepherds, wise men coming from a far because of what they had seen in the sky.

Through all the thinking, my mind always comes back to wondering how long after the birth of Jesus the excitement lasted. Was it like the letdown that always happens after all the presents are open and all the festivities are done. I can hardly imagine that it did. I can only think that the anticipation continued as Jesus did things like taking his first steps and saying his first words. I can see the wonder in the eyes of his parents, trying to figure out how the Son of God was going to reveal himself.

As you go through this holiday season, take time to revel in the coming of our savior in the form of a little baby--helpless and in need of the humanity that he's coming to save. And, when the holiday season is past, don't let the amazement that we have for our Lord to fade away like the spirit of Christmas.