{"id":2492,"date":"2011-12-20T00:26:48","date_gmt":"2011-12-20T05:26:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/inspirationreport\/?p=2492"},"modified":"2011-12-19T10:28:54","modified_gmt":"2011-12-19T15:28:54","slug":"the-hope-of-christmas-a-promise-kept","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2011\/12\/the-hope-of-christmas-a-promise-kept.html","title":{"rendered":"The Hope of Christmas: A Promise Kept"},"content":{"rendered":"

You are savvy readers here at the Inspiration Report. So I know that in spite of all the hustle and bustle of the season, you haven\u2019t forgotten the real reason why we celebrate Christmas. This year I am pondering it more than ever.<\/p>\n

In December we set aside time to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. As the wise men gave gifts to the infant, so we give gifts to each other. It\u2019s the beginning of the \u201cGood News\u201d. It\u2019s a time when we wish each other joy and peace. <\/p>\n

However, there\u2019s more to the story.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>See, the birth of Jesus was a big deal in and of itself, because people had been talking about it for generations. There were oral traditions passed down. Prophets were predicting that a virgin would have a child and that child would be God incarnate (Don\u2019t believe me? Look up Isaiah 7:14 in the Bible). The buzz on Jesus was a thing of legend. <\/p>\n

And on that first Christmas, it finally came true.<\/p>\n

Now of course, it goes a deeper than that, but this tiny facet of the holiday season cannot be ignored. At its essence, Christmas whispers this truth: \u201cDreams come true\u201d. What was hoped for eventually came to pass. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s why this season is so full of hope, and we take time to reflect on the goodness we\u2019ve seen throughout the year. It\u2019s all because Someone kept a promise. <\/p>\n

This Christmas, I hope you remember that the presents under the tree are not the only gifts you will receive this year. Don\u2019t give up on the longings of your heart, whatever they are. They may be wrapped curiously or in unexpected boxes. However, in due time they will arrive, and they just might be exactly what you wished for\u2026 maybe even more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You are savvy readers here at the Inspiration Report. So I know that in spite of all the hustle and bustle of the season, you haven\u2019t forgotten the real reason why we celebrate Christmas. This year I am pondering it more than ever. In December we set aside time to celebrate the birth of Jesus…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":93,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,9,17,4,20,6,26],"tags":[503,505,166,452,45,136],"class_list":["post-2492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-good-news","category-happier-you","category-holidays","category-inspiring-messages","category-something-to-think-about","category-thought-to-ponder","category-well-being","tag-christmas","tag-dream","tag-dreams","tag-holiday","tag-hope","tag-jesus"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Hope of Christmas: A Promise Kept<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2011\/12\/the-hope-of-christmas-a-promise-kept.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Hope of Christmas: A Promise Kept\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"You are savvy readers here at the Inspiration Report. So I know that in spite of all the hustle and bustle of the season, you haven\u2019t forgotten the real reason why we celebrate Christmas. This year I am pondering it more than ever. In December we set aside time to celebrate the birth of Jesus…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2011\/12\/the-hope-of-christmas-a-promise-kept.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Inspiration Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-12-20T05:26:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-12-19T15:28:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/inspirationreport\/files\/2011\/12\/Nativity-300x225.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jennifer E. Jones\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Hope of Christmas: A Promise Kept","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2011\/12\/the-hope-of-christmas-a-promise-kept.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Hope of Christmas: A Promise Kept","og_description":"You are savvy readers here at the Inspiration Report. So I know that in spite of all the hustle and bustle of the season, you haven\u2019t forgotten the real reason why we celebrate Christmas. This year I am pondering it more than ever. In December we set aside time to celebrate the birth of Jesus…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2011\/12\/the-hope-of-christmas-a-promise-kept.html","og_site_name":"Inspiration Report","article_published_time":"2011-12-20T05:26:48+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-12-19T15:28:54+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/inspirationreport\/files\/2011\/12\/Nativity-300x225.png"}],"author":"Jennifer E. Jones","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2011\/12\/the-hope-of-christmas-a-promise-kept.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2011\/12\/the-hope-of-christmas-a-promise-kept.html","name":"The Hope of Christmas: A Promise Kept","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2011\/12\/the-hope-of-christmas-a-promise-kept.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2011\/12\/the-hope-of-christmas-a-promise-kept.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/inspirationreport\/files\/2011\/12\/Nativity-300x225.png","datePublished":"2011-12-20T05:26:48+00:00","dateModified":"2011-12-19T15:28:54+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/#\/schema\/person\/e680796dc5bb5e0def813d26fc7ac148"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2011\/12\/the-hope-of-christmas-a-promise-kept.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2011\/12\/the-hope-of-christmas-a-promise-kept.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2011\/12\/the-hope-of-christmas-a-promise-kept.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/inspirationreport\/files\/2011\/12\/Nativity-300x225.png","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/inspirationreport\/files\/2011\/12\/Nativity-300x225.png"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2011\/12\/the-hope-of-christmas-a-promise-kept.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Hope of Christmas: A Promise Kept"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/","name":"Inspiration Report","description":"Inspiration News, Life Advice and Emotional Wellness","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/#\/schema\/person\/e680796dc5bb5e0def813d26fc7ac148","name":"Jennifer E. Jones","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/538\/5388855270a03493105edfa3ec01cb16x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/538\/5388855270a03493105edfa3ec01cb16x96.jpg","caption":"Jennifer E. Jones"},"description":"Jennifer E. Jones is a writer, editor and Web producer. She has written for entertainment, trade and inspirational organizations for nearly 15 years. She has a Master of Education and a Master of Journalism degree from Regent University. However, her greatest skill is crushing anyone in a game of \"Name That Tune.\" In her spare time, she is an amateur home chef, a rock star marathon runner and wannabe novelist.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/author\/jjones"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/93"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2492"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2492\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2497,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2492\/revisions\/2497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}