Twas the day after Christmas and all through the land the kids were glad to sleep in and the parents to sip their morning coffee and peruse the headlines.

I’m always a bit melancholy on the day after Christmas. And that’s the way with anticipation fulfilled, right? Once you have it, what do you do with it?

I wrote one lone line in my journal:

Was Christ’s incarnation really incarceration?

I mean, how must it feel to leave the glory of heaven for a confinement like earth? Even if you’re Lord of the universe? Then I read the inward-outward that came in my inbox. It began: “The incarnation is the irruption of God into human history.”

Now in my surly frame of mind I thought Irruption! don’t they know how to spell eruption? So, my friend Wikipedia set me straight. “irruption” means breaking in. “eruption” means breaking out.

It was not a misspelling. It was an epiphany. Christ did not break out; He broke in. It was not a spilling or a vomiting or a tossing away from heaven. It was a premeditated, loving, swan (or dove) dive into earthen time. Into human time. For all time.

Well, now that Wikipedia and I were getting cozy I asked about “carnation.” What was it that Christ came “in” to? It turns out the carnation is:

“a species of Dianthus (from the Greek for heavenly flower) probably native to the Mediterranean region, but its exact range is unknown due to extensive cultivation for the last 2,000 years.”

Imagine that. A heavenly flower birthed into time somewhere in the Mediterranean region, but so spread in 2000 years it’s hard to trace its origin. Hmm. Even my day after Christmas self had to pause at that. And, as the time for my Advent candle devotions had been fulfilled, I stood to blow out

Hope

Peace

Joy

Love

Wouldn’t you know that the candle of hope had already gone out? It couldn’t have lasted one more day. Really?

Well, no. Advent had not snuffed out hope but Christmas had happened. The in-Carnation had happened. Hope entered time as peace, joy and love.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. ~ Romans 15:13

Twas the day after Christmas and God said, “You take it from here.”