A week later, we were raking leaves – always an epic
experience at our new (to us) house. It’s
usually a whole morning of family fun, and that's just to get the front yard done. It usually requires another day to do the back.
There’s a reason our neighborhood has “Woods” in its name, and that reason
requires a rake in the Fall. We were
about halfway through our biggest raking day of the year, when Lucy asked, “Is
it Christmas day NOW?” This two year old
doesn’t remember last Christmas. She has
no frame of reference for what Christmas day will look like. She just knows that it is a special day –
different from most other days. So, each
time a day feels different or special, she asks, with a little excitement, “Is
THIS Christmas day!?”
Her anticipation
helps me remember to not just wait longingly (though, I certainly want to do that)
– but, to wait with wonder. Both in the
waiting of the advent season, preparing to celebrate the incarnation of our
King. And, as we wait, longingly, for
the day when our King returns. I was
thinking, as I raked (I had plenty of time to think), that so often my longing
for the return of the King is done in grief, or in frustration with the world I
see around me, “Lord, come quickly” I
mutter in prayer. But, how often do I
long with wonder and with anticipation – not just that what is sad will be
untrue, or that what is broken will not be broken anymore – but that it will be
made right! That there will be joy! Not just that there will be no more tears,
but that something wonderful will replace those tears. Advent and Christmas through the eyes of my
two year old reminds me to wait with joyful anticipation and wonder.
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