I could feel the fog creeping in last week.

That funky, junky holiday fog.

It happens every year around this time.

I didn’t want history to repeat itself,

so I let the Lord in.

I asked Him to search me and shine His light.

Instead of revealing stress or the need for rest, my usual opponents, He showed me misplaced and mismanaged expectations 🎄🫣

Expectation is awaiting something that has not happened yet. It is the longing for something we don’t yet have.

The Lord showed me how I had allowed the worldly pressures to overshadow the holy expectation of Christmas.

I pressured myself to keep up with

the ever-changing holiday aesthetics.

I expected myself to single-handedly

make all of the holiday magic.

I pushed myself to make it all

presentable and picture-perfect.

For so many years, I tried to resist the world’s way of creating chaos in the middle of Christmas. Yet, here I was folding to unrealistic expectations.

I was hoping that holiday festivities would bring joy,

instead of looking to the One Who is my joy.

I was longing for a perfect Advent season,

instead of setting my eyes on the Reason.

I refuse to let worldly expectations

shadow the light of the newborn King.

So, I will put down the pressures of this world

and refocus on the King of the World.

The One who has fulfilled every longing.

The One who has exceeded expectation.

The One who is the center of our hope.

We can rest in that truth this season,

as we celebrate His birth and

eagerly expect His final arrival ✨

We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including new bodies he has promised us.

Romans 8:23-25

But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior.

Philippians 3:20