I will happily admit that I love a Hallmark Christmas movie and I must not be alone, because every streaming service now has their own version of them. While I am fully aware that they are all fairly predictable. They typically take place in a small town that looks like a Christmas snow globe. Neighbors are kind to one another. Families love each other and if their is some kind of rift, it all gets solved before the end of the movie. They always live happily ever after.
Sigh. What’s not to love?
Last Sunday at church, we lit the first candle of Advent, the Candle of Hope. There are a lot of hopes this time of year. Children hope for gifts from Santa. Parents hope to create perfect Christmas memories. Many families hope for some kind of peace and reconciliation among their people.
Humanity itself, hopes for a happily ever after and we tend to run after it in all the wrong places; that’s where the promise of Advent shines.
When Jesus entered our world, true hope was born, not the kind that we can hold temporarily in our hands, but hope for the eternal. One night in Bethlehem, happily ever after was truly born. The eternal happily ever after is never marred by sickness, death, betrayal or any of the brokenness that lives on this side of eternity.
If the thought of Christmas feels dark to you this year, let me remind you that as Christians, we are travelers here. We may not get our happily ever after this year or even next year, but we will get a happily after and it will be beyond our wildest imagination. That baby in the manger guarantees it.
So, if you long for the perfection of a Christmas snow globe, but your reality looks more like a dumpster fire, be encouraged, you are loved beyond measure and brighter days are coming. The Candle of Hope reminded me that a Hallmark Christmas movie doesn’t even come close to the true happily ever after that belongs to those who place their hope in Jesus. Perhaps you needed reminding too.
Have an awesome day!
Wendy 🙂