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The following is an excerpt from the book, All I Really Want: Readings for a Modern Christmas by Quinn G. Caldwell

So?  Did you get everything you wanted for Christmas? Is there a check mark next to everything on your list? And are you totally fulfilled?  Completely happy?

Now let me ask a more important question: did you get everything you truly want?  I mean the stuff you want so bad it’s more like a need.  Did your disease get cured?  Did your dead spouse come back?  Did you and your estranged brother finally work it out?  Did your depression let you get out of bed and mean it?

I really hope your answer’s yes, but I fear it won’t be.

Advent is isn’t just about fulfillment.  Advent is always about longing, and it’s always about longing that’s not going to be fulfilled for a long time.  Christmas didn’t fix everything; it started fixing everything.  Meanwhile, we continue to wait, with all the biggest items on our lists unchecked.

And yet, after Christmas, after the baby, the tenor of our wait is different.  Now, we’re not waiting alone.  Now, we’re waiting with the God who could have remained above it all but chose to dive into it with us and not leave us ever.

Quinn G. Caldwell, All I Really Want, pages 118,119