Advent Word of the Day - Revealed

Dec. 6 - Word of the Day - Revealed

Last year I decided to give my family an experience for Christmas. They each got a canvas, sat around the table, and I set out a bunch of paint. We painted on our own canvas for 5 minutes and then passed it to the person next to us where they got to paint on the canvas for 5 minutes and we kept painting and passing until our original painting made it all the way around the table and back to its original owner. When I got my painting back it revealed …

... that my family is weird.

I had originally painted a large Christmas tree and when I got it back there were a few traditional items like candles and presents, but there was also a Cub ornament (bleh), a sneaky Santa, and a goose holding a knife. My husband started a biblical work of art and painted a manger. He ended up with, not the baby Jesus, but the baby Yoda – holding a knife – surrounded by a giraffe, the Death Star, and a light saber. The other paintings contained various Sponge Bob characters, a gun toting Santa in a sleigh, a flying snowman, a Santa getting ready to drink either alcohol or poison, a chicken with a knife, and a steaming pile of poo.

My family is weird (and perhaps a little scary).

We all started out painting a nice little Christmas/winter scene and we were all a little wary of our artistic skills (except my sister-in-law who is brilliantly talented). I had expectations about the finished products. I thought that I would end up with a pretty little tree with presents and lights and ornaments. My husband thought he would have a lovely nativity scene with the traditional elements lovingly created by each member of our family.

This is not what happened. What was revealed was not what was expected and that is why the pictures with the knife wielding goose and the knife wielding Yoda have a prominent place amongst my Christmas décor this year and they are a perfect reminder of the story of Jesus.

What was expected was not what was revealed.

“The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.  He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” John 1:9-13

The world did not recognize him.

The world expected the strength of a warrior and they got the strength of new life in the form of an infant.

The world expected a conquering king and they got the Prince of Peace.

The world expected their enemies to be destroyed and instead they were told to love their enemies.

What was expected was not what was revealed.

I'm working on setting aside my expectations for this season. This is a new year, a new Christmas, with new experiences and new traditions being born.

I can't wait to see what God reveals. I'm sure some of it will be weird.