Being Full of Expectation this Christmas

Dec 15

You sit at my feet, and your heart is dulled. You are here and not here. You are longing and yet far from your longing. Your distractions rule you. I wish you were with me. I wish you were right by my side.

May you be winsome. May you be expectant for what is good. I am good. I am everything you’ve dreamed of. But why do you neglect to dream?

* * *

At this Christmas season, we hold so much longing. The longing becomes heavier, and we either attend to it or placate it, letting distraction ease the intensity of it. Or we ignore the longing and work hard to pretend it isn’t even there.

As we lean into this encounter with Jesus, let’s begin by asking Jesus to help us transition from a state of world-wearied distraction to one of attentiveness and presence.

Lord, I give you my heart, all of my attention. Help me to draw toward you now. I breathe deeply of your love.

Take a few deep, even breaths with your eyes closed and hands empty.

Inhale slowly, feeling your lungs fill with air.

Exhale deeply, pushing out, fully, each breath.

As you feel God drawing you toward Himself, consecrate (bringing all under his authority) your thoughts and concerns.

Lord, I consecrate this time to you now. Guide me, letting my thoughts be your thoughts, your concerns, my heart's focus. I trust you with every worry, fear, frustration, and pain. Right now, I am here. Right now, I know you are here.

I give you…(surrender to Him each thought right now….)

Next, take out your journal and sketch yourself with Jesus now. Draw a picture of him with you–and you with him. What is his posture? What is yours? What happens as you imagine yourself with him right now? What feelings and thoughts do you have? Consider representing those thoughts and feelings in thought bubbles, like those you see in a cartoon drawing above the person’s head.

As you draw, be aware of your heart’s desire to engage with Jesus. Let yourself be present, open to what he is saying to you in this moment.

Lord, I hear you saying…

And this is what I am feeling…

Add to your sketch–or write out, using words, in your journal–the ways, this Christmas season, you are distracted, mentally pulled in different directions. How is Jesus longing to help you come back to yourself–and him?

Jesus, this is how I am distracted this Christmas season….

And I hear you saying…

Can you imagine, this Christmas, allowing your heart room to be wide open to hope, expectation, and dreaming with Jesus? Tell Jesus your heart’s response…

Jesus, when I imagine what dreaming with you looks like this Christmas, this is what I am feeling….

To be at Jesus’ feet is to be at the feet of your rabbi, to be his disciple. What might he have to share with you? Contemplate the verses below from Luke 10:38-42 and John 12:1-7:

Luke 10: 38-42

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

John 12:1-7

Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.” He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.
“Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”

How is your heart drawn to Jesus now? And how, this Christmas season, is it pulled away?

Jesus, I want to be with you this Christmas….Help me…

This is what I am hearing you say…

Continue to engage with Jesus, trusting that you hear his voice in your heart. Below are words I heard for us when I felt him inspiring this Encounter:

May you be winsome. May you be expectant for what is good. I am good. I am everything you’ve dreamed of. But why do you neglect to dream?

My heart is in the dreaming, the creating from a dream. You are the execution of my dream.

It is delightful to dream and to create. It is how you find–and stay–Home. You are experiencing Home and life with me when you create from your dream with Me.

Stay at my feet as I tell you a story. Or, let me gather you up in my arms as I tell it, for it is sweet here, holding you:

Just because the dream is not yet realized does not mean it isn’t real. Dreaming takes claiming the heart I’ve given you–listening to it, honoring it, believing it has something beautiful and important to say.

You are beautiful and important to me, and let us honor your heart by excavating the desire I have placed there–placed there for good.

It takes choosing me above all else–and eliminating distractions. For, oh, how you are pulled away from me! And how I long to pull you close!

What do you search for? What do you long for? I want to tell you this–your searching is amounting to nothing if you aren’t really searching but, rather, letting every distraction rule you, guide you, push and pull you so that your life is not grounded in the dreams within you, buried deep, deep down.

Where are they, child? Where are the dreams? Where are we together? Where is your roadmap of connection with me?

Fight for peace, the setting down of all anxiety, frustration, disappointment, and distraction, by trusting in the dreams within you, the ones I’ve placed there, the ones we share.

Let us share the same dreams, dear one.

My dreams for you make me smile, and how I long for you to uncover them. Are you curious about them?

Do you want to know what they are? Do you want them realized?

We are one. I am in you. Jesus, and Holy Spirit, originate and navigate the unfolding of every dream. What do you hold within you that I have dreamed?

You know.

Amen.