Expectations

“This is not what I was expecting…” How many times have we thought this—or heard someone else say it—when a moment or situation has finally played out in our lives? When a game comes down to the final seconds of overtime and we’re the ones who mess up and cost our team the win. When we once thought our parents were really old, only to look around and realize that now we’re that age—and somehow still not old yet! Or when we’ve worked so hard to gain something of value or status, only to stop and ask, “Is this all there is?”

The same can be said for how we remember the Christmas story and how Christmas itself has changed for us over time. Christmas looks different as we move from being an excited child—waking up first in the house on what felt like the best day of our lives—to perhaps spending more time alone watching TV or reading a book than anything else. Has Christmas changed? What was it meant to be? And if we are alone, is there still a reason to celebrate the birth of Christ?

The video above dives deeper into what the Christmas scene would have actually looked like—far from what many of us picture today or the legends we’ve grown up hearing. I wasn’t expecting that. But then again, what I expect and what actually is are often far apart. What we can be sure of as we settle into the next few days of celebration is this: Christ was born by an absolute miracle, protected by God and faithful parents, and lived a life documented more clearly than anyone else of His time. And when He was born—no matter what the scene looked like around them—God’s army of angels sang, “Glory to God in the highest!”

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