His Treasure Seekers

Over the last few years, I have grown to love the Advent season.  As a child, I felt like the weeks leading up to Christmas were absolutely magical, and as I grew older I never seemed able to recapture that anticipation.  Of course, what I was really looking forward to back then was Santa’s arrival and present delivery.  It was hard to feel the same once I had outgrown that fantasy.

We don’t play the Santa game at our house, but once we had children I wanted to try to create a similar sense of excitement as we looked forward to the day we celebrate Jesus’ birth.  The great mystery of His arrival is so far beyond any childish dreams about a jolly fat man bringing presents.

We’ve developed many Advent traditions to help make this season a time of wonder and delightful anticipation for our family, and this year as I was decorating our home, I decided to add one more (borrowing from my nominally Catholic roots).  We have Nativity scenes scattered throughout the house, and I set them all up without Baby Jesus (except for a few where that was impossible).  Right away my kids started asking, “Where’s Jesus?”  To which I replied, “He’s not here yet.  We have to wait for Christmas!”

Every time I pass one of those scenes, I’m struck by how incomplete it feels, which was the whole point, of course.  It’s hard for me to imagine a world without Jesus, where the only thing to cling to was the hope of God’s promise.  Having a concrete reminder of His absence has helped me spend time each day reflecting on how Christ’s arrival brought a sense of completeness (or at least it set things in motion for the ultimate fulfillment of God’s promise).  I tried it on a whim this year, but I think this is going to become a tradition.  (I’m still trying to decide how I want to bring out the Jesus figures.  I’ve got lots of great ideas from which to choose!)

“O come to my heart, Lord Jesus,There is room in my heart for Thee.”