We have been counting the days. Lighting the candles. Preparing our hearts.

We have been building the celebration piece by piece, trimming by trimming, branch by branch.

We have been waiting. Awaiting the day on which the most amazing miracle in the history of the world happened. The day God made man left the womb of His mother and let out His first cry into the world so desperate for Him. A world still so desperate for Him.

Ours is a strange waiting, isn’t it? We await what already happened so long ago…but which happens anew each year in our hearts. We await the promise of when it will happen again, but in victory rather than humility. We await the reminder of that most precious gift by giving–to others, of ourselves, from love.

Son of God and yet Son of Mary. Jesus, the most beautiful of conundrums. How could the creator become flesh and blood? The very Word by which the Father created the world, unable to make His tiny human body utter any sound but an infant cry. The divine God who fashioned Man, cradled in a mother’s arms. The God who counted the days, counted the creatures of the earth and called them good, now an infant whose mama was counting His fingers and toes and calling them good.

Christmas is so much more than the things we do to celebrate it. It’s so much more than a time to make merry. Christmas, above any other time of year, is a time to wonder. To wonder at this impossible thing that happened. To stand in amazement and awe of a God who loves us so much that He did this unheard-of thing. To really ponder the mystery that is Christmas. Christ come to earth. God made man yet still fully God.

I pray as you move into the final days before Christmas, your heart swells with the wonder. I pray we dwell on the miracle above the mirth, but yet are also filled with the joy that brings. I pray that the Lord of all makes Himself known anew to your heart as you consider the miracle of His coming, His advent.

Merry Christmas, everyone!