His Gift, My Hope

“Every man will sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid.” ~ Micah 4:4

One of the most common questions asked at this time of year is often answered in a way that might seem benign, even noble.  “What do you want for Christmas?”  “I just want to be happy.”  Who can argue with that? It’s certainly more agreeable than being presented with a laundry list of material desires.  But more and more I find myself wrestling with the way the world prioritizes the pursuit of happiness as an ultimate life goal.  This is not to say that I don’t enjoy things like hearing my son’s belly laugh, biting into a fresh-from-the-oven chocolate chip cookie, or feeling the ocean breeze on my skin.  Those things make me happy, but they are not the source of my Hope.

Recently I have recognized a pattern in my thinking that has shifted my focus away from the truth of what Hope in God really means.  I tend to get caught up in checking the boxes on my list of things to do, with the goal in mind of seeing results, feeling accomplished, arriving at peace and rest.  In doing so I am putting my hope in all the places that it doesn’t belong – my job, my home, even the list itself.  How diminishing it is for me to live as though the gift of Jesus’s birth, death, and resurrection was to create space for my lists and my own earthly priorities.

The blessed Hope of Christmas is so much bigger.  The gift of Jesus is mercy, grace, access, forgiveness, and the promise of living in God’s presence for eternity.  This is where Hope originates.  In his description of the last days the prophet Micah tells of a peaceful place where “every man will sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree, and no one will make him afraid…”  It is foolish for me to seek that place on this side of heaven. While the deliverance we receive through the miracle of Jesus’s birth does benefit our lives and experiences, that benefit is only part of the gift.  The bigger part is bright Hope for tomorrow, which is not dependent upon what I see or how I feel today.  So while the world settles for “happy,” I’ll choose Hope in the One who holds the future.