Numbers 24:17 17 I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near; A Star shall come out of Jacob; A Scepter shall rise out of Israel,
Luke 1:54-55
54 He has helped His servant Israel, In remembrance of His mercy, 55 As He spoke to our fathers, To Abraham and to his seed forever.
Luke 1:68-70
68 Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, For He has visited and redeemed His people, 69 And has raised up a horn of salvation for us In the house of His servant David, 70 As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets, Who have been since the world began,
Cookies, stolen, krumkake, eggnog, ham, pie, peppermint, pine, holly, mistletoe, snow, colors and lights and songs and shopping and Christmas TV specials. The deep shadow of Christmas to a WI born German. Currently I have none of it. I did take the time to buy a single Christmas decoration, a tree. And I plan on finding the appropriate decorations for it later this week. But it is now the 20th of December and for the most part the whole month has passed and I barely noticed it was Advent. Whatever else all the preparations and traditions are they are a constant reminder of what is coming. They keep you constantly in mind of and focused on that which is ahead of you. 
When I was a child, December was the longest month of the year. Saturday’s were torture as we stood in front an empty church practicing our lines for the Christmas Eve service. Practicing our lines wasn’t that bad, then at least I was doing something even showing off how much better I could do my line then the kid standing next to me, but waiting, waiting for all the other kids to say their lines, often waiting as they did it a second and a third time, that was torture, smelling cardamom 
and cinnamon in the air, seeing the cookies and the bread waiting on the counter, waiting not to be eaten but to be frozen and set aside until the 25th. Boxes, presents gradually but slowly piling higher under the tree, waiting, waiting to be opened. Everywhere you turned it was a grand movie paused on the verge, furious activity but all waiting. There is no other holiday, no other event I have ever experienced that made me wait as long as Christmas did. Not even Easter commanded the preparation and anticipation that Christmas did.
And isn’t that exactly as it should be? Advent is after all the season of waiting and preparing. The themes of Christmas and Advent, promise, fulfillment, a Father’s love, the gift bestowed, the Kingdom, the King, the coming, the faithfulness of God, the sureness of His Word, the confidence of our faith. Christmas is a celebration of life, as the Christmas tree suggests, but not in the same way as Easter Sunday. Easter celebrates the fullness of life in the strength and beauty of Spring. It rejoices in the majesty of the victory of life over death. Christmas is the celebration of life under the snow. It is the season of waiting, waiting for that which will be, waiting for the summer. Living under the cold suffering of this world, bearing patiently the present burden of death, knowing that we have been made alive in Christ, that even when that life cannot be seen it is 
there, waiting for the summer of God’s promise. It is a season of waiting for the gift of God, the promise of the Messiah once and again.
Whatever we learn from Easter and Palm Sunday and Reformation, it is from the Christmas season that we learn how we ought now to live, and what it means to wait on the Lord. It is in Advent that we learn that our whole life is about preparing for that one day that 
seems as if it will never come.
This is the same reason that our life as Christians is a life in the Word. Many people approach daily Bible study asking, what good will it do? I already know that story. I already know that lesson. They walk away and think perhaps it was not a good study because “I learned nothing new.” As much as it 
is good to learn new things, the first and primary purpose of the Word to those who already believe is not to teach but remind, to refocus, to keep you mindful of that which is to come. While I have been here in India the preparations for Christmas that used to be such an integral part of December are all missing. Consequently the whole month has gone by in a flash and I, I have barely thought of the coming day at all. It’s just another month filled with work, and cares, and food and this world. Instead of what it ought to be: a month filled with thoughts and constant reminders of that one coming day. So it is too 
that when we set aside the “trappings” off our Christianity, first and foremost of which is daily prayer and Bible study, our life so quickly loses its focus, and becomes consequently just one more life. December without the reminders can easily become just one more month, our life without the Word even more quickly becomes just one more life.
