Christmas Eve Waiting

Your house bustles with activity. Christmas Eve services—everyone “get into the car.” Family gatherings and gift exchanges. Last minute baking. 

Today busyness abounds in most of our homes. But infused into all the hustle and bustle is a sense of expectation—of waiting. 

Tomorrow we will rise to celebrate our Savior. We will give gifts because He gave us the greatest gift. We will sing and laugh and feast together because ultimately He came near. But today, we wait. 

I like what C.S. Lewis said about waiting:

. . . I am sure that God keeps no one waiting unless He sees that it is good for him to wait. When you do enter your room, you will find that the long wait has done you some kind of good which you would not have had otherwise. But you must regard it as waiting, not as camping. You must keep on praying for light: and of course, even in the hall, you must begin trying to obey the rules which are common to the whole house. And above all you must be asking which door is the true one; not which pleases you best by its paint and paneling. (Mere Christianity)

Maybe your Christmas—like mine—is full of waiting. Like so many saints throughout the ages, we're waiting on God's direction, His door to open, His healing to break through. And so today, we wait. 

Let's not turn our waiting into camping, as Lewis writes. Instead let’s look at it with Christmas hope. God always sets a limit to our waiting. He always has a plan. And He will bring us through the waiting and to the gift at the perfect time. 

So today let’s wait, watch, and wonder, with holy expectation, like a child on Christmas morning, until we step through His door, behold His gift, and joyfully celebrate the Giver of all good things. Will you join me?