Thursday, December 9, 2010

Unwrapping Christmas Hope

It's Thursday and time for another Faith Barista Jam!  The topic for this week is my hopes for Christmas.

As a parent, my hope this Christmas is that my children will realize that it's not ALL about them and what they want.  Of course I want them to have a great holiday with all the fun it brings...lights, Santa's magic (yes, I said the S word), candy canes, eating way too much....but I want them to really KNOW that Jesus is why we celebrate Christmas.  He is the reason for the gifts and the celebration.  Without His coming to earth as a baby we'd have no hope for eternal life...

As I pondered Christmas hope, I had the thought to look up the definition of the word.  According to good ole Webster HOPE is defined as:

to desire with expectation of obtainment or to expect with confidence

Hmmmm....'expectation of obtainment'....that's a good one!  We expect that we are going to obtain what we wish for this Christmas...a realization that Jesus is the central character in the drama that unfolds this time of year.  We expect with confidence that He is going to make Himself real to us and our family by His Spirit until we see Him face to face...ah the Blessed Hope!

So at our house this year we plan to unwrap a little Christmas Hope...something that we can hold onto all year long...all eternity long.  How about yours?

'It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age,  while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ... '            Titus 2:12-13

7 comments:

Unknown said...

I love this verse from Titus. I want to say no to worldly passions and live a self-controlled life. A life lead by God's Spirit and not my flesh. Thanks for this post!

Phather Phil Malmstrom said...

Wonderful post! Like you, we always want our children to marvel and revel in all the fun this Season brings, but also to know the wonder and magnitude of the Blessed Event we're actually Celebrating, the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ! Thank you for this post, and have a Blessed Day!

Bonnie Gray said...

You & I are getting ready for the great wedding... and there's so much we can do to prepare our inner beauty, as we wait for our Bridgegroom. Thank you for sharing this hope in the Faith Barista jam because as you say, Allison -- His birth points us to Him coming back. He was here once, and He'll be back again!

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Kelli said...

I like that "'expectation of obtainment'...." If we go into Christmas with the expectation of obtaining God's presence in our lives and his peace woven through our lives it will be much more meaningful! Great reminders!

Unknown said...

A wonderful post. :D

Unknown said...

Love the post! Love Faith Barista!