Advent Guide: You BelongSample

When Joy Collides With Anticipation

Having a child changes the way we approach the Christmas season. There's something about experiencing Christmas through a child's eyes that re-enchants the season for a parent.

You begin to plan early in the year for those things you know will bring joy to your child: train rides, Christmas lights, family, Home Alone 2 (the better of the Home Alone movies) – and that joy of waking on Christmas morning to celebration and gifts. It's beautiful.

In all of this, though, one lesson we have strived to teach to our daughter is the connection between joy and anticipation – and even more – how that relates to our faith. Just as a child spends the Christmas season longing for that exciting day when her anticipation collides with joy – we are part of a much greater story in which God has provided the perfect gift to quell all of our longing and anticipation.

J.R.R. Tolkien coined an interesting term that I love – eucatastrophe. It may sound bad – but I promise it's not. It's derived from Greek words for "good" and "sudden turn."

In a letter to his son, Tolkien defined this term by stating that eucatastrophe is, "the sudden happy turn in a story which pierces you with a joy that brings tears." He later relates that to the resurrection of Christ calling it the, "greatest eucatastrophe possible," further stating that it, "produces that essential emotion: Christian joy ..."

I would also propose in the same vein that the incarnation of Christ that we celebrate in this season is such a moment. A sudden turn. God becoming man. The gift that would be the fulfillment of our great longing and anticipation. A new epoch in redemptive history.

My prayer in this season is that we would lean into that greater story – when the anticipation of the world collided with its greatest source of joy – at the birth of a Savior.

Shawn Spurrier is director of Buckner Shoes for Orphan Souls®. He recently earned his master's degree from Moody Theological Seminary. His greatest accomplishment is marrying his wife, Sarah, and being dad to Hattie. He probably started listening to Christmas music weeks ago.