Advent Day 11: Longing – A Yearning Desire
Kristen Lamm is a member of The Parish Launch Team. She is married to Josh and is fanatical about her ‘kids’ – two mixed breed dogs, Jacoby and Dexter. She currently works for The ReThink Group and will be leading the charge in developing our children’s ministries.
Christmas seems to be a time of longing for all of us. Longing to get the boxes of decorations out of the attic, longing to open the presents under the tree, longing for the time that your family can be together and celebrate. There may even be some of you longing for the season to be over because frankly, people and parking lots start to get out of hand.
I know as a kid I longed for Christmas morning. The anticipation of opening presents and seeing what Santa had delivered while you slept was at times overwhelming in the weeks and days leading up to that morning. But we may be missing out on the most important longing our heart has, time with Jesus. This Advent season and particularly today’s readings have reminded me of the longing the people must have felt waiting on the Savior. Have I ever longed for Jesus in this way? Have I ever had a yearning desire to be with my Savior?
In Psalm 38 21-22, David writes:
O Lord, do not forsake me; be not far from me, O my God. Come quickly to help me, O Lord my Savior.
David cries out for God to be near to him, which happens in my own life occasionally, but rarely do I live with a longing for Jesus to always be present. It’s tough, life is busy, there are bills to pay, jobs to do, errands to run. Then you add the holidays on top of the normal to-do list and suddenly you have presents to buy for 10 people, parties to attend, parties to plan, decorating and the list goes on and on. Today has reminded me that the season of Advent is so helpful in preparing our hearts and focusing on the second coming of Jesus.
Christmas is probably the easiest time to miss this longing in our heart. So many times we start the New Year exhausted and empty because of all the hustle, but maybe this year can be different if we spend our moments longing for the return of our Savior.
