A Season of Waiting

I've been thinking about how Christmas and Easter are both holidays that build up.  They are a season, not just a one day holiday.  And I've been reflecting a lot on the birth of Christ, reading the prophecies  fortelling his coming and I get this sense of waiting. . . of expectancy.  And then someone shared in church about how at Christmas we talk a lot about Jesus's coming as if we were waiting for his first coming too, when in reality he has come and now we are waiting for his return.  I thought about that and realized how Christmas is a bit of an excercise of remembering, treasuring and hoping all in one.  We remember how the Israelites were waiting and
expecting a savior and we remember our lives as well before we received the gift of Christ personally.  The remembering of the goodness of God to follow through with his promises brings us to treasure His wonderful goodness, namely His goodness in Christ Jesus, saving us from our sin.  And the treasuring of His goodness in my hearts springs such a hope in me for all the situations in my life that can feel hopeless.

So, as we sing Christmas carols around the tree, or read from the Gospels the coming of Jesus with the angels and shepherds and wise men, or we help the kids prepare a gift for someone special with anticipation of the receiver's joy, I am reminded of the fullness of the gift of Christ.  These traditions (singing, nativity sets, reading the story) are full of meaning but only if you take the
time to really ponder it.  There is much more relection needed at
Christmas than we tend to give ourselves to.  And I realize the very traditions that were meant to help us reflect can actually stand in the way if they are merely keeping us busy.

There is nothing like small children and the job of raising them to make you have to answer the questions of why you do the things you do.  Why the tree?  Why gifts?  There is a lot of meaning in all these little things we do and as the kids have started asking it's been good for me to put it into words and ponder anew their meaning.
I'll take gift giving for example.  The wisemen gave gifts.  I for a long time thought of the tradition as coming from that.  And it may have.  I suppose there are different opinions as to the origion of the traditon.  We've been talking about Jesus as the greatest gift, and reflecting on the giving and recieving relationship, and the joy of both giving and receiving.  Kids have a way of bringing back meanings to things you've done so long you can almost lose the meaning.  Also, living in a country where Christmas is not celebrated  has made me conscious of the meanings behind our tradtions.  I never used to put so much thought into why we do the things we do at Christmas and Easter until I came to Turkey, at least not in this way.

As this will be our last Christmas here, I'm writing this mainly for
myself.  It isn't a profound reflection but a personal one.  I want to remember the beauty of our Christmas's here.  They have become very meaningful and a real season of renewing for me.  Next Christmas will be so special in that we'll be with our families again, and I hope as purposeful in meaning as our Christmas's have been here.