Christmas Letdown

The lead up to Christmas is a marvelous one.  So much preparation: gifts are purchased, decorations hung, tree trimmed, food cooked, clothes bought, gatherings planned.  It’s the equivalent of planning a small wedding each year.  As the day comes, our anticipation grows, our expectations grow, our hopes grow.  And nearly every year, Christmas itself is no match for these things.  The gifts disappoint initially or eventually.  The food - no matter how delicious - devolves into leftovers.  The people - no matter how much we love them - often leave us with a splinter or two if we’re not careful enough.  And so after Christmas we are left longing still.  We long for the things Christmas was not able to bring us or deliver.  Hope has not been quenched.  We are still waiting.

I believe that a Christmas is coming that will meet every longing.  There will be a Christmas that delivers beyond every expectation and hope.  It is the Christmas when Jesus returns to this world.  He will come not simply to announce his kingdom, but to bring it fully.  He will come not just with promises, but with fulfillment.  His return won’t just point to a day to come.  It will be that day.  In your every hope, longing, desire, and wish, that is the day - the Christmas - you are ultimately waiting for.  The Christmas letdown that you feel right now is perfectly appropriate.  It tells you that the real Christmas is yet to come.