“Is tomorrow Christmas?” has become the routine tuck-in question at my house. For 10 days now I’ve been answering, “No, but it’s coming soon.”
My stepson is not particularly attuned to the calendar — daily, weekly or monthly. To his way of thinking it’s always possible that tomorrow is his birthday, or Saturday, or in this case, Christmas. But what about to our way of thinking, is it possible that Christ could come tomorrow?
One night it actually was the night before Christmas.
There was a strange star in the night sky.
There was a crush of humanity in the town of Bethlehem.
There was a three month old boy named John, son of Zechariah and Elizabeth, living in the Judean countryside.
There was a young woman heavy with child.
There were shepherds in the field keeping watch over their flocks by night.
There was an old man named Simeon who could not sleep in Jerusalem.
There was a old woman named Anna who was fasting and praying in the Temple.
There were Zealots hoping for a Savior King.
There were Magi beginning a journey to find the King born under the natal star.
There were angels whose joy could not resist breaking through the veil that ordinarily separates the spiritual from the natural.
Most of the world slept through it all.
Two thousand years later, tonight is the night before Christmas.
The light shines in the darkness … but most people will sleep through it all.
I wonder, who, like Simeon, awaits the Savior today?
Who, like Anna, prays for the Lord’s appearing?
Who, like Mary, believes and submits and ponders the coming of the Lord?
On the night before Christmas while all through the house not a creature is stirring, not even a mouse, are our eyes turned expectantly and our hearts turned affectionately to the promise of the Lord’s arrival?
Read again (as if for the first time) the fulfillment of every human hope, the answer to your prayers and the promise that Christmas is coming, again.
Tonight when I’m asked at tuck in time, “Is tomorrow Christmas?,” I will, with great joy, get to declare, “Yes!”
Merry Christmas
1 Comment. Leave new
Your writing is beautiful and powerful! It paints a vivid picture of the most wonderful story the world has known.
Thank you.