The anticipation of Christmas can bring such joy to this time of year, especially when you have a young child who gets excited about the little things. The lights, trees, decorations, hot cocoa and cookies bring a smile to my daughter’s face each day. As adults, we often get caught up in what needs to happen and the stresses of gatherings that we lose sight of the joy in the journey. We have our eyes set on the Christmas Day prize.
Christmas day will come and go. We will take a deep sigh of relief that we made it, but we will also be sad that it was gone so quickly. What about the entire month (or more) we spent preparing for this special day of celebration? Did we not stop to enjoy the miracle of life? Did we not spend time reading the story of Jesus’ birth and singing songs about the greatest gift the world has ever received? Yes, our expectations of a perfect holiday will not be met, but what if we became more thankful for the small moments of celebration before Christmas day? What if we had more of that childlike faith during the holiday season, and we could spend more time living in the moment?
Each day this season, let’s thank God for the small moments, the big moments and all the in-between moments. Don’t expect perfection, but praise the one who is perfect!