How Soon is Soon?

When our children were young enough to still be excited about Santa Claus' coming, we face every parent's Christmas Eve problem. How do you get the kids in bed and asleep – and enough yourself so that Christmas morning you're not too exhausted to enjoy the wonder of a child's delight and surprise at what came in the night. And then we hear the familiar question from our children: "When will Santa Come?" Our response is "Soon to which they respond, "How soon is soon?"

How soon is soon? We've been to the mountaintop. God has declared what he is going to do. Now we must wait and serve with patience and faith. The Christian idea of hope is more than a mere wish. It is a confident expectation for the future based upon what God has promised he will do in that future. And as we wait for this to come, we are to make ourselves available to the grace of God that we might be prepared for that happy place – soon. Perhaps sooner than we think!