I hope...

Christmas...sometimes just the word stirs my heart...makes my heart skip a beat.

The whole year long, I plan...

Anticipating the gifts and the candy and the food and the parties...and the list goes on and on.

Yet when the time arrives, the excitement only falls to the ground with anticlimactic feelings.

Stress.

Rushing.

Crowds.

Money.

Is it all really worth it?

I put my hope in gifts only to find the excitement smothered like the clouds smother the January sun.

I hope to impress my guests so I plan and cook and labor on my feet in the kitchen...

 hour after hour...

 only to crash into bed at night wondering, "Was it really worth it?"

And, oh, the decorations!  Hopefully they will be perfect...

maybe a lovely hint of Southern Living

or as chic and stylish as HGTV.

In and of themselves, the things for which I hope are not so bad.

However, it is my prayer that those hopes fade next to the manger.

I desperately hope the worldly things diminish next our Lord.

I hope my hope is heavenly.

"We are merely moving shadow,

and all our busy rushing ends in nothing.

We heap up wealth, not knowing who will reap it.

And so, Lord, where do I put my hope?

My hope is in you."

Psalm 29:6-7