Welcome to Christmas week. This is Joni Eareckson Tada and we’re only a couple of days away from celebrating Jesus’ birth.
Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright
Round yon Virgin Mother and Child
Holy Infant so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace, Sleep in heavenly peace
Wow, there’s so much to celebrate at Christmas…just singing this song, “Silent Night.” And I hope you sang with me. Didn’t we sing it together as children? I remember when I was a child, after opening up my gifts on Christmas morning, I was always looking for something more. Not more gifts, but a deeper, nostalgic kind of “more.” I couldn’t have been more than 8 or 9 years old, but it wasn’t unusual for me to leave my gifts, go up to my room, and lean on the windowsill and gaze longingly outside, far beyond the field of snow. What was I looking for? Jesus had already come. What more could there be? Why did I feel this mysterious pull to go beyond and somehow step into the other side of Christmas? Have you ever felt that way?
I was only a kid, but somehow I realized that on this side of eternity, Christmas is still only a promise; there is still so much more to happen in the Christmas story. Yes, the Savior has come, and at His arrival, there came peace on earth, but we both know it’s not finished. Yes, there is peace in our hearts, but we long for peace in our world. And so, the celebration of every First Advent marks another year that draws us closer to the Second Advent, the Second Coming of our Lord. Every holiday carol is an echo of the heavenly choir that will one day fill the universe with singing. Each angel hung on a Christmas tree is a hint of the thousands-upon-thousands of angels who will attend our Lord's coronation at the close of time. Each Christmas gift is a foreshadowing of our heavenly gifts of golden crowns to be cast at the feet of the King of kings. And each smile from a friend or family member beckons us onward when we will be with our loved ones forever.
Maybe angels hovering over Bethlehem heralded his birth, but one day they will herald the dawning of a new day. The glow of each candle is a hint of the Light of the world by which, one day, “the nations will walk and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor.” Every Christmas is a “turning of the page” until Jesus returns.
You know, friend, I talk a little bit about this in a Christmas message I videoed for you this week. And I encourage you to tell your friends to stop by joniandfriendsradio.org and be blessed by some special insights about those longings, those yearnings, and that aching we all so often experience during Christmas week. Again, that’s joniandfriendsradio.org and don’t forget to tell your friends to visit me, too.
Finally, like children who long for December 25th, you and I wait for his return with bated breath. The best has come, but the “better” is about to return. Celebrate the joy of “God with us.” And celebrate that he will soon come again. And so I say today to you, Maranatha, Merry Christmas!
Used by permission of
JONI AND FRIENDS
P.O. Box 3333
Agoura Hills, CA 91376
© Joni and Friends