An·tic·i·pate

an·tic·i·pate: to foresee and act in advance of

  Less than a week until Thanksgiving...only a couple of weeks until my birthday...only a month or so until Christmas...and (hopefully) only a little while before we get to come to Colorado!  In this season of so much to anticipate, I find myself feeling so many different emotions.  I am feeling so excited for various reasons.  I am feeling nostalgic as I reflect on this holiday season a year ago, or 5 years ago or 25 years ago.  I am feeling impatient as I wonder if these days will really ever arrive.  I am feeling accountable, wondering if I have made the best investment of another year of life, of years pouring into this community through ministry.  I am feeling a little nervous as I think about the unknown that is to come in each of these situations & upcoming weeks.  AND I am feeling guilty and frustrated with myself and sad for my soul.  In all of this anticipation, I have been convicted that I have failed to truly anticipate & understand the ONE event that is truly to be anticipated above all other events.  Seriously, only a few other events in ALL OF HISTORY can compare to this one...Jesus is coming back!  

   Last Sunday at church, our pastor was preaching from 1 Thessalonians and talking about the Day of the Lord, and how Christ will come back to rescue His bride when we least expect it.  And it hit me - if I am honest, I have been anticipating a lot of other things more than this.  And it breaks me.  Makes me feel guilty, makes me realize how much further I have to go to better understand the Gospel, makes me sad to realize that I have been enjoying and anticipating earthly pleasures more than God intended me to.  My anticipation, excitement, expectation of these seasonal, earthly events should pale in comparison to my anticipation of my Savior, my King, my Lord, my Jesus coming back to earth.  

    I remember anticipating my wedding...getting ready to have my family come & stay with me in my house, making sure all of the details for the wedding & reception were ready, taking time to help make sure our Swazi family had a way of getting to the wedding, and then in the days before the wedding, making sure my dress was fitting well, working on decorations, finalizing the plans for the honeymoon.  I remember waking up so early on the day of my wedding, thinking about Mxolisi and our life ahead.  And that is barely a bit of the beginning of how much God wants us to anticipate Christ's return.  
    And so as I sometimes wonder why this process of getting to Colorado is taking so long, I am realizing how much more the Lord wants to teach me, not only about His perfect timing, but also about waiting, anticipating, and trusting in His sovereign timing.  As we enter the season of Advent and reflect back on the first coming of Jesus, God with us, God is inviting us to prepare our hearts once again and anticipate when He will come again.

"For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.  And not only the creation, but we ourselves...groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as children of God, the redemption of our bodies.  For in this hope we were saved...if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience."

~Romans 8:22-24