Loving My Actual Christmas: An Advent Devotional By Alexandra KuykendallNäide

Advent Week One: Hope

Hope. It is a word of anticipation, of belief that something good is possible. It seems fitting to be in a place of hope as we enter this Christmas season, imagining that good can happen. Hope believes that what we want can come true. It is a possibility. 

This first week of Advent is centered on hope. In some churches, the first Sunday in Advent is expressed as expectation, a word that means “waiting with hope.” Expectation reminds us of our hunger and anticipation of a Messiah. 

But there’s a difference in these words expectation and hope. When I expect something, I’m nearly certain it will arrive. When I hope for something, I am less sure about it. My expectations around the season are tactical, what will happen where and when. My hopes go deeper. Perhaps expectations are how we want things to happen and hopes are the desired lasting effects for relationships, memories, and growth.

How does one experiment with hope? How does one try to believe in something desired? It must begin with honesty. What do I truly want? When it’s time to pack up the decorations, what do I hope we’ll all remember? How do I hope my loved ones and I will feel? What legacy will this Christmas carry forward? 

When we peel back the layers of what we think we are hoping for, we discover what our heart truly desires—a relaxing season, a debt-free holiday, memories with those we love. And then we can make a plan and move forward. 

As I enter this season, I realize that I won’t be able to meet everyone’s needs. That feels scary. But the way things have gone down in the past has left me pulled in a million directions, so I must face my heart and these conversations head-on. And now is the best time to have them, at the beginning of the season, rather than arguing about unmet expectations while driving to church on Christmas Eve (hypothetically speaking, of course). 

So this week I’ll do an inventory of what my hopes are for this Christmas and what those around me expect, and I’ll make a plan to prioritize the elements that are most important to all of us. May our hopes be for what is worth remembering!

What would you like to remember about this Christmas season a year from now? Ten years from now?