I could hardly wait for our family Christmas Day celebrations with our Austin family. It was Jesus’ birthday, so naturally, there was a birthday cake in His honor. We even gathered around and sang “Happy Birthday” to Him \u2013 a simple yet profound reminder of why we celebrate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thanks be to God \u2013 the waiting is over. We\u2019ve journeyed through the Advent season, hearts prepared, ready to receive the Christ child on Christmas morning. Now, with joy overflowing, we sing, \u201cJoy to the world, the Lord has come!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I know you can sense where I\u2019m going with this \u2013 the waiting, the longing, the anticipation. It\u2019s not just about Christmas morning. The Apostle Paul echoes this sentiment in Philippians 1:20, expressing his own eager expectation:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy eager expectation and hope is that I will not be ashamed about anything, but that now as always, with all courage, Christ will be highly honored in my body, whether by life or by death.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Paul could hardly wait for heaven. And after all he endured, who could blame him? His heart ached for the day he would meet Jesus face to face. Paul\u2019s longing was more than fleeting hope; it was an eager, confident expectation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Isn\u2019t that how we feel too? The way we eagerly watch our children\u2019s faces light up as they unwrap gifts mirrors our own longing \u2013 the anticipation of seeing the greatest gift of all. No wrapping paper could ever contain the glory of our risen Lord and Savior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The little Lord Jesus is no longer sleeping in the hay. He reigns, and we eagerly await the day when we\u2019ll stand in His presence. Until then, we carry that hope in our hearts, knowing that what\u2019s to come far outweighs anything we\u2019ve ever imagined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the words of Max Lucado: Oh, I want to see Him \u2013 look upon His face! Oh, to see my Lord and Savior face to face \u2013 I can hardly wait!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I could hardly wait for our family Christmas Day celebrations with our Austin family. It was Jesus’ birthday, so naturally, there was a birthday cake in His honor. We even gathered around and sang “Happy Birthday” to Him \u2013 a simple yet profound reminder of why we celebrate. Thanks be to God \u2013 the waiting…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21356,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1019,8483,1210,1769,4174,31019,31021,1392,31018,40,19446,29930,31020,3285],"class_list":["post-21355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-apostle-paul","tag-austin-family","tag-blog","tag-christian","tag-christmas-day","tag-clebrating","tag-eager-expectation","tag-facebook","tag-hardly-wait","tag-inspiration","tag-little-lord-jesus","tag-not-ashamed","tag-philippians-120","tag-risen-lord"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21355"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21355\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21361,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21355\/revisions\/21361"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\u201cThe manger invites, even dares us to believe the best is yet to be. And it could all begin today.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
There to sing forever \u2013 God’s amazing grace!
On the streets of glory \u2013 let me lift my voice!
Cares all past \u2013 home at last \u2013 ever to rejoice!<\/p>\n\n\n\n