Many of us have Christmas traditions that we love. One of my all-time favorites is from my childhood, where, every Christmas Eve night, my three siblings and I would sleep together in my sisters’ room as we waited for morning to come to see what Santa had left us. We would spread pallets on the floor, and we’d giggle and talk (and probably argue) late into the night. I can still vividly remember that sense of joy and excitement as we tried to sleep. But I can also remember that feeling of impatience as I wondered, “Will Christmas morning ever get here?”

There’s a phrase, “Slow as Christmas.” Maybe it’s a southern thing, not sure. But this phrase certainly rings true in the hearts of children who wonder if Christmas will ever arrive.

But if we’re honest, when it comes to waiting, what was true for us as children is true now … For most of us, we don’t wait well, do we? And maybe our longings don’t focus as much on presents we might receive on Christmas morning, but there are things in our lives that we desperately want to see happen.

And so, we wait … for that job to materialize; for that relationship to come along; for that difficult circumstance to change; for a wayward child to come home; for that person to forgive us. And as we look at the world around us, we wait and long for other things, too: peace in Gaza and Ukraine, for an end to poverty and addiction and racial strife. Our world seems fraught with troubles which seem increasingly volatile. We know things aren’t right and so, as we wait, we ask, “How long, O Lord, how long?”

As you open gifts this Christmas, be reminded that one of the greatest gifts Christmas offers is a promise. The promise of hope in the midst of our waiting.  

We remember that Israel waited hundreds of years for the promised Messiah to come. They lived in almost constant brokenness, exile and oppression. They knew things weren’t right and they trusted that God would rescue them through His Messiah.

O come, O come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear

And at just the right time (Galatians 4:4), God sent His son, Jesus, the Savior of the world.

The promise of Christmas is not only about how God met Israel in the past, but how he meets us now in our own waiting, and how – at just the right time – Jesus will come again to restore all things and make everything new. When, “He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” (Revelation 21:4)

So, may this Christmas Season, for you and your loved ones, be a time of joy and excitement as you celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus, the Messiah. And in your own places of waiting, whatever they are, may you be filled with the hope of Christ, reminded that He is coming again – at just the right time – and He will make all things new.

God’s blessing to you and yours! Merry Christmas!