“A voice of one calling: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.’” Isaiah 40:3-5

Do you have that "one" Christmas memory that trumps all other Christmas memories? We do. One year, we pulled off the Christmas gift that “Santa's lap stories” are made of for my little girl. We surprised her with a pony. Yes, she got an actual pony for Christmas.

The morning of Christmas, I twitched with excitement. Heart racing, hands shaking, feet tapping, butterflies filled my belly. Excitement leaked from me. We gave her the Christmas surprise of her life. The excitement of that day is forever etched in all our memories. We recall the details. She'll tell their kids about that day. It was a big deal. As I waited with anticipation for the big reveal imagining how she'd react with hopeful, joyful, delighted expectancy, it dawned on me that this moment is the epitome of advent. In exponentially greater ways, I imagine that this was the same excitement the people felt as they watched and waited for the Messiah. Waiting on pins and needles for something so amazing that they could barely contain it without bursting. As we celebrate the eternal impact of heaven touching earth in these next few days, I pray that we are so overcome with heart racing, handshaking, foot-tapping, butterfly belly excitement that our praises leak from us. Advent is every day. Advent takes place in the heart. It's a lifelong celebration of the greatest arrival humankind has ever known. The greatest gift that never departs. May we all live with that kind of expectancy now and throughout the year! Merry Christmas!