Lights, candles, action. December has come, and we’ve flipped the switch on Christmas, turning on all the emotions that swirl within us at this time of the year. At the heart of that swirl is longing. We want things—small things, big things, something that will let us feel content. What is it? We’ll know it when we find it.
What do you long for? Is it hard to put into words? Christmas finds us longing for peace, for joy, for pleasure, for the way things used to be or the way they never were. At Christmas we often attempt to satisfy ourselves and our loved ones with food, gifts, decorations, togetherness—all of which are good. But sometimes the harder we try to fill our own longings, the emptier we feel.
Our longing comes from a deep, buried sense that there is more.
“I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but they didn’t see it. And they longed to hear what you hear, but they didn’t hear it.”
~Matthew 13:17, the words of Jesus
The prophets both waited for and longed for the Messiah. But longing is distinct from waiting. Waiting can feel still, or stuck, as you watch the world move along while you sit with an unanswered hope. Longing implies moving, reaching out, wondering about and seeking the thing that will satisfy. Instead of waiting for that thing to come to you, you’re out searching for it.
During this Advent season, prepare for Christmas by letting yourself feel that longing: the longing for the world to be made right, the longing for the Prince of Peace to rule on the earth and in our hearts. Search the Christmas story again. Let your longing point you toward the Bethlehem manger, where shepherds and a mother and father and seekers all realize: This is it. We know it because we’ve found it. He is the one we’ve been longing for.
We can’t meet our own longings. But we can meet the one who knows our hearts, who made our hearts and planted in them a longing that reaches out toward our creator.
When the presents are open and the guests have gone, when the needles fall down and the tree goes to the curb, what are we left with? Unexpectedly, we’re left with Christmas. We’re left with God with us. We’re left with the knowledge that we are loved, we are saved, and we are made for more than we will experience on this earth.
Each week of Advent, we’ll begin with a Sunday reflection like this one. Below, you’ll find five verses or passages from the Bible that speak to the week’s theme. Use them for reflection from Monday to Friday. Instead of being swept into the swirl of a season that will come and go before we know it, we can move toward Christmas—toward Jesus—with purpose, peace, and joy.
Scriptures for Week 1
Day 1
As a deer pants for flowing streams, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
~Psalm 42:1-2
Day 2
All these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it. … If they had longed for the country they came from, they could have gone back. But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland.
~Hebrews 11:13, 15-16
Day 3
We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we are saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
~Romans 8:22-25
Day 4
O God, you are my God. I will look for you with all my heart and strength. My soul is thirsty for you. My flesh is weak, wanting you in a dry and tired land where there is no water.
~Psalm 63:1
Day 5
The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. … For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
~Isaiah 9:2, 6
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