Anticipated

 This past weekend, snow fell for the first time. It had been much-anticipated and longed for. For many weeks, the cold and frosty earth had waited for its winter coat. And I had waited for it, too. The trees that had no leaves, the ground that was life-less looking and frozen hard - it all seemed so bare, so lacking in beauty. But then, the white flakes came gently falling down and covered everything in sight and turned a drab outdoors into a winter wonderland. 

 As I watched it come softly down, I thought of how much more its Creator had been anticipated, too: hundreds of years had humanity clung to the promise of a Messiah-King who would deliver them. They pictured a mighty conqueror arriving in splendor and royal glory. But how surprised they were when He came softly, quietly into the fallen world. Born in a stable, His arrival was announced to the humblest of society - shepherds who had the royal news revealed to them by the heavenly host of angels. In the lowliest of places, the King of Kings made His entrance, thus identifying Himself with the shamed, the outcast, the downtrodden. Most were not aware of His coming even though they had looked for Him for centuries. Christ comes much the same way into the human heart: tenderly and quietly identifying with the weakness and shame that it carries deep inside. He chooses to reveal Himself to those whose souls are open to welcome Him, no matter how lowly they may be.

 This Christmas season, as is the case throughout history, many seek Him. But He will only be seen by those who know where to look for Him, in the least expected. Long-awaited, much-anticipated, He has come and, through His arrival, changed the eternal destiny of mankind. But we shall only discover the true meaning of His birth when we realize that His ultimate victory came not as an earthly conquerer like many thought but as the One who clothes our bare and cold hearts in His purity - the dark sins of our past being forever covered like the snow upon the hard, frozen ground. 

 The flakes continue to gently fall. So, too, does His grace and love continue to fall on the lost souls of those He purposed to redeem.