IN AN INSTANT-access world where we no longer have to wait for anything, delayed gratification is a dying virtue. But when you immediately meet every want and desire, you never get to appreciate the sweetness of a longing finally fulfilled. All the more reason to make the most of the Advent season and engage in anticipation.

When my kids were small, we sought to extend that sense of expectancy to Christmas Day itself. We didn’t want the morning to explode in a flurry of ripped wrapping paper, with all the gifts opened in a rush, followed by the let-down feeling of, “So, is that it?” We wanted it to be a feast, not a fast-food drive-through. Appreciation, not indigestion.

So, we instituted a slo-mo gift exchange. The kids got to open their stockings—the candies and the little tchotchkes—first, and they could tear into them to their hearts’ delight. Then we moved to a gift exchange with one of them playing mailman and delivering a gift to someone else. We’d all watch while they told us who it was from and opened it. Then onto the next person.

When each person had opened a gift, we’d then spend some time actually with it, rather than just saying, “Oh, great, a Lego set. What else have I got?” It might be 30 minutes or more before we’d get to the next round of gifts. Some Christmases, the exchange would take most of the day to complete.

I’d offer, if somewhat tongue in cheek, that this approach isn’t only countercultural, it’s also biblical. After all, that first Christmas didn’t happen in a rush. The shepherds got there pretty quickly, but the magi’s gifts probably weren’t given on the same day, despite the way we like to lay out our nativity scenes.

Remember, the visitors from the East may not have arrived until up to two years after Jesus was born. When King Herod learned from the wise men about the newborn king they had come to worship, that was the age up to which he wanted all the newborn baby boys killed, to be sure of eliminating the imagined threat to his rule (Matthew 2:16).

And let’s note, this newborn king wasn’t in a hurry to assume His throne, either. It would be 30 years before Jesus began to speak about the kingdom He was born to usher in. Apparently, some things just aren’t meant to be hurried.

So, if you’re impatiently waiting this Christmas for God to answer some great prayer of yours, consider savoring the Savior in His seeming tardiness. Try to enjoy the waiting, because the eventual coming into being may be so much more meaningful, and so much more appreciated. All because of the anticipation.

Merry Christmas.