Parenting With Anticipation

As a child, I have some amazing memories of Christmas and the Advent season. I

specifically remember one Christmas when I was about 5 or 6 years old, and all I wanted for

Christmas was a slinky and a stuffed Tigger. So, that’s all I asked my mom and dad for, Tigger

and a slinky. I still remember the anticipation as I waited for Christmas. I remember the lights

and how the tree that was decorated with brightly colored lights and variety of different ornaments fit perfectly into the corner of my parents living room, and I will never forget when Christmas morning arrived and I walked out my room to see hanging from the bottom of the tree by his tail was my very own Tigger. Suddenly my expectations had been fully realized, and I will never forget that memory because everything I had hoped in for that Christmas had been realized.

The advent season is a time of anticipation. As a child, my anticipation was directly

linked to Christmas morning and the presents that awaited me. Since becoming a father,

however, I have come to know a new kind of anticipation. Each year I anxiously await the smiles on my girls' faces as the Christmas lights go up, and I wait for the joy and excitement on their faces as they travel down the stairs to find the bright, colorful Christmas tree surrounded by presents. I love these moments of joy in my precious children’s lives, but I wonder if there should be more to our anticipation as parents.

Advent is special because we celebrate from a position of knowing that our anticipation

for the season comes from a place of fulfillment. Christ has come, born in a manger Christ has brought light into the world, and through his life, death, and resurrection, he has given us even more reason for anticipation as we await his return. We have reason for joy and hope in the Advent season because we know that with it comes the promise of salvation through Christ alone.

As parents, we have the opportunity, and frankly the moral obligation of teaching our

children this truth. We can certainly spend time investing in creating wonderful Christmas

memories for our children this holiday season, but more importantly we must point them to the purpose behind it. When we instill our children with a strong sense of who Jesus is and why advent is so important, we help to create in them a greater reason for anticipation…we create for them an opportunity to experience salvation in the Messiah whose birth we celebrate.

As a child of God, the advent season reminds me to wait in anticipation for the moment I

meet the Messiah who was born to pay a debt he did not owe so that I can experience His grace and an eternity I do not deserve, but as a father, I am reminded to make every moment with our children count. I am reminded to teach them everything I can about this season and to teach them about the anticipation that surrounds Advent because in doing so we can prayerfully anticipate the day where our children say “I choose Jesus,” and they can begin living life anticipating the Messiah who waits for them in eternity.