December begins

I've always loved the first day of a month. It's like a mini New Year that gives me that fresh start, extra-air-in-my-lungs feeling that makes even a Wednesday have the freedom of a weekend. And today isn't just the first day of any month; it's the first day of my favorite month, December.

Mostly, I like December for Christmas: 

for the remembering that comes with Advent, 

for family, 

for seasonal music,

for high spirits, 

for lights on trees, 

for a chill in the air, 

for laughter and food and parties, 

for time off work, 

for anticipation of togetherness

(both in this world and the one to come).

Anticipation. That's the key, really. The key to me liking December so much, yes, but also the key to living joyfully in this life. It's not a rejection or dismissal of the gifts of this world but a holy dissatisfaction with them that sets me on tiptoe, looking for more, looking for Jesus--even in the midst of the wilderness, the valleys, and the uneven ground of this life. We were made for fresh starts, clean slates, and wrongs righted; we were made for heaven and for Him. 

Isaiah 40: 1-5

1 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.

2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins.

3 A voice cries: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

4 Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.

5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."