Did you write a Christmas list this year? You’re probably thinking, ‘another message about how Jesus is the best present ever.’ And yes, Jesus is the best present ever, but that’s not what this is about.
As a child, I would love to go through the Argos catalogue and mark out a whole list of things I wanted. I didn’t usually get them, but I made the list anyway. I know some friends still make lists – although probably more grown up than a list of toys, games and books! I also know a lot of people don’t make a list. But it’s not really about the list, it’s about the magic and joy of Christmas.
In my memory, through the eyes of a child Christmas was an exciting time full of wonder, where dreaming big was allowed. It was a time of hopeful expectation – the promise of family time and board games was just as exciting as the hope for gifts given and received. My Christmas list had some ridiculous things on it, things I knew I’d never get, but I put them on there anyway, just in case…
As we get older, it is easy for Christmas to lose it’s sparkle. Maybe for some it was never there – Christmas isn’t a safe and wonderful time for everyone. Maybe it’s because the cost of heating the house and buying the food has become too high. Maybe it’s because of the loss of someone we loved, changing Christmas forever. Maybe it’s just the general knocks of life that build up and just mean Christmas isn’t anything more than a break from work. Or maybe, quite simply, we got older and stopped believing in Father Christmas.
Someone I am getting a gift for asked for non-perishable items like cans of tomato soup. I’m not knocking that request: they’re a student and those sorts of things are essentials for student living. So I have got her what she asked for. And I’ve included some treats too, because unwrapping a jar if soup doesn’t make me think ‘Ooh, exciting! Just what I wanted!’ (Of course, I mat be wrong, after all it is what they asked for – maybe they really, really like tomato soup!)
But maybe it’s time to dream big again – huge unrealistic things like a hippo on your Christmas list. Maybe it’s time to find joy, not in the gifts or the food, but in the story behind it all. Maybe you should write a list of things you want. Include soup, yes, but also include a hippo (or equivalent). If there was nothing in your way, what would you really like?
The backbone of Christmas celebrations for me has always been church. I grew up with Carols by Candlelight on Christmas Eve and a morning service on Christmas Day, and as I got older I was allowed to go to a midnight service (as long as I went to sleep quickly so Santa still had time to come). And the centre of the Christmas story is the birth of Jesus, the saviour come to show us the way, to restore a relationship with the Father. And Jesus teaches us to pray for anything and everything. He teaches us not to limit ourselves.
I’ve had enough prayers not answered in the way I hoped or expected to understand that sometimes it’s hard to pray. Disappointment can lead to discouragement, can lead to limiting our prayers. But my encouragement for you is that the one you are praying to is ultimately good, and there is a reason even if you can’t see it yet. God sees the bigger picture, he sees the outcomes, he looks at eternity and heavenly things while we are looking at the now, here on earth.
So while you are here, now, make your list. Include your hippo. And if you get it, fantastic. And if you don’t, remember that God has something better planned. You may not see it now, but one day you will. Because against all odds, He became human and was born to a poor family in order that you might have a way to be with Him in eternity. So dream big. God is with you.
The Reason for my Hope Blog 