Anticipation
Anticipation is a funny thing. It’s almost like stepping into a time warp. The time leading up to the event is excruciatingly slow but then the event flies by and you don’t know where it went. Like Christmas when you were a little kid. It can’t come fast enough but then is gone in the blink of an eye. It seems like my life is a cycle of finding something to anticipate, waiting for it, then it come with great excitement, then its over and I start looking for something else to anticipate. Whether it is the next big movie, a new book, a trip, you get the idea. I spend all kinds of time preparing for these upcoming things and then it comes and goes just as quickly. Nothing seems to last.
The most recent example of this is the Harry Potter movie that released on the 15th. Me and several others had been looking forward to that day with great anticipation for several months. And then it came, and two and a half hours later it was over. Granted, it was a very good movie but was it really worth all of the build up I had given it in my head?
I know that I spend so much time waiting for things that, while exciting, don’t compare at all to the eternity I will spend with my Lord and Savior. And yet, sometimes I don’t give that eternity nearly as much thought or preparation as I do the temporary pleasures that come with this world. As much as we don’t like to think about it, our time here is limited. One of those times when we are waiting oh so eagerly for something to come, it won’t. Because our time here will be cut short or Jesus will come back to get us.
I don’t think there is anything wrong with looking forward to things here, but when our anticipation for those things overshadows the excitement we have (or don’t) for our eternal future in heaven, something is wrong. It is at this point that I can honestly say I am too caught up in the world that is not my home. I am just passing through here on my way home.
You know the feeling you have after you have been away from home for an extended period of time and you are only hours away from being there again? You are tired of driving, your rump is tired of sitting, and you really need to pee. Do you stop at every side show on the way there or do your press on, knowing that your very own bed awaits you there? I really need to work on this mindset. I need to press ahead with Jesus as my goal, not the next exciting novel by my favorite author. When you compare them one just seems very short term. I need to anticipate the thing that is most exciting by preparing for it: an eternity with Jesus.
Brian
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1 Comment
Awesome!