unmet expectations
I stood in the aisle of Hobby Lobby for at least 20 minutes debating on which box of cards to select this year. Every year, I bounce back and forth between sending a card with a photo or a handwritten note. Truth be told, the latter suits me better.
The simple, vertical printing of JOY caught my eye.
Maybe because it was shaped differently than the others. Maybe it was the foil lettering. Or maybe it was because it’s the very thing I’m most desiring the season.
And the thing that has continuously challenged me this year.
It’s been a tough year. You may or may not know that. You may be surprised to learn. But this year has been one of lost opportunities. Of rejection. Of closed, and locked, doors. A year that has stretched me to, what often times, felt like a millimeter away from my breaking point. It has been a year of major disappointments. Of questions. Of doubts and uncertainties. And of uncomfortable reflection.
Most of all, a year of unmet expectations.
Not the types of things one writes in a Christmas card. Not the sweet sentiment of well wishes for all to be happy and bright. But as I stared at the box of cards that has been serving as a holder for all of the beautiful cards I’ve received, the empty cards begging for a pen stroke, to be signed, sealed, and delivered, a song came to mind.
Come, thou long expected Jesus,
born to set thy people free;
from our fears and sins release us,
let us find our rest in thee.
Israel's strength and consolation,
hope of all the earth thou art;
dear desire of every nation,
joy of every longing heart.
Friend, this may have been the year of unmet expectations for you, too. You may be ending 2022 battling a deflated heart and defeated spirit.
But the long awaited, Expected One has come. Come to release you and me from the fears, frustrations, disappointments, and failures. To give rest to our weary souls, strength to our feeble bodies, and provide consolation for every tear that’s been shed.
And if that weren’t enough, He has brought along hope and joy. Because although we cannot anticipate what is next, we can trust that it doesn’t simply end here. God is always working and moving, year in and year out, to accomplish His purposes, and we can expect Him to still do great, unfathomable, remarkable things.
This season, this time, is a sentence, a paragraph, a page, a chapter in a much, much grander story. And what a beautiful reminder to receive at the end of the year. In the darkest, coldest, season – we celebrate that light, that redemption, that joy has come.
And He abides with us still.
