Christmas Lists

It has happened to all of us.  You know, that Christmas you opened gift after gift longing for that one gift that was at the top of your Christmas list. 
And yet...gift after gift, it didn't come.  
At the end of Christmas day, you are still looking under the tree hoping another present is there hiding; still looking for the only thing you really wanted for Christmas. 

For me it was a drum set.  Year after year, I would put a drum set on my Christmas list.  A year after year, it didn't show up. No matter how big a present was that I was opening, I was hoping it was some how a drum set. 
I would play tricks in my mind.
"Maybe they wrapped up drum sticks to trick me."
"Maybe it'll be a picture of a drum set that is at my grandparents house, just waiting for me to pick it up."

Christmas after Christmas, it didn't come. Looking back now, I realize that my family didn't have the room in our house or the finances to make it happen.  To be honest with you, I am thankful.  Had I gotten the drum set, I would have likely never picked up guitar in college and I'd be trying to lead worship with teenagers while sitting behind a drum set.  God has used my ability to play guitar in so many different ways during my time in youth ministry, I am thankful that I never got that drum set.  

When I look at the Christmas Story in scripture, I find a couple that waited and waited for that perfect gift.  They were both from prominent families.  This is a gift that their culture valued and would look down upon a couple if they did not have one.  In fact, not getting this gift was a grounds for divorce in this culture. 

Zachariah and Elizabeth just wanted a child.  I imagine they prayed about this for years.
Problem was, year after year, it didn't come.  Year after year, they were getting older and older, and less and less likely to have children.  Finally, in Luke 1, we see that God appeared to Zachariah to say that Zachariah's prayers had been heard, Elizabeth was going to be with child!


For many of us, we enter this holiday season, and have still not had that "one big prayer" answered by God.

Some of us pray that our parents will just understand us.
Some that God will get us into that college you are dying to go to.
For some of us it's to be better at a sport or at school.  
Some pray for a new job, healing in broken relationships, understanding from the loss of a loved one, and some just want to catch their breath and catch a break.

Some are praying to no longer feel lonely.
Some to finally be noticed by that "one" person.
Some are praying for understanding why that "one" person has changed so much and feels so distant.  
Some pray for strength to battle an addiction, strength to make a hard decision, or strength to simply get out of bed in the morning.

Some are just in need of a friend, someone that understands what they are going through. 
For some it is a list of material things we feel we need to fit in, or a list of material things we think we have to have to be happy. 

Whatever it is...we all have something in our lives that we feel is unresolved.  Something that makes us anxious.  Something that we feel we deserve and earned.

We all have relationships that need healing. 
We all have decisions we are afraid to make.
We all have problems that are yet to be dealt with, that we have no idea how to deal with.
All of us are missing something, somewhere in our lives.

One thing that is abundantly clear to me when reading the Christmas story, is that God hears our prayers.

God may not answer our prayer the way we wish or hoped, but God hears our prayers. 
Zachariah and Elizabeth longed for a baby and didn't get that gift on their own time table.  But God did answer their prayer.

I eventually got my drum set.  A family at my last church felt led to give me one.  I was shocked and I was humbled.  I was thankful.

But I realized that after getting my drum set, I just put something else on the top of my wish list.

One thing I've realized is that all those years of opening each gift, longing for a drum set, I missed many blessings in my life.  I was so focused on getting a drum set, I didn't often take the time to truly enjoy all the gifts that I was being given. 


I don't know what it is that is missing in your life, but I do know if that one thing becomes our soul focus, we really miss out on a lot of great things in our life. 

God is speaking to you.
God is blessing you.
God is answering your prayers.

Are you so focused on what you do not have this Christmas, on what you so desperately want this Christmas, that you are missing the blessings of all the things in your life that you do have?