Anticipation

Anticipation. The very word brings a smile to my face, for wrapped up in those mere twelve letters is the fullness of excitement, hope, and joy. Anticipation is forward-looking, straining the eyes to see who or what is coming down the road.

Anticipation is giddy expectancy.

We are in a season of expectancy; a pregnant world waiting to be delivered in every way it is possible to be delivered. This season of Advent in particular brings with it an even greater anticipation as our "weary world" rejoices... contemplating, seeking, the breaking of a new and glorious day. We will not be disappointed, for God never drops the ball. The hype is never greater than the actual event where He is concerned. Advent is here, and our joy is just beginning.

I remember with great clarity the excitement I felt in the weeks leading up to Christmas break, especially as a mother awaiting the return of one of her chicks from college. As the time drew closer for their arrival, I busied myself re-feathering their nest, freshening up their vacant room, baking their favorite foods, playing scenes out in my head of what this reunion would be like. When they called to say they were on their way, I could hardly contain my joy. I wasted no time telephoning my husband, "They're coming!!"

Anticipation heightens. You start looking out the window, then you find yourself on the porch and down the sidewalk. You can hardly wait for the car door to open. There's nothing quite like greeting someone you've missed, wrapping your arms around them and holding tight, wishing you'd never have to let go. Those kinds of reunions are wonderful. They are filled with joy, but the joy didn't just miraculously appear with the arrival, the joy began long before... with the anticipation.

Right now the world and the people in it are filled with all manner of emotions. Many individuals are dealing with apprehension, anxiety, and fear. Satan has done a stellar job this year of trying to divert people's attention from WHO and WHAT is coming down the road, yet come it will... He will. Christmas. Jesus. Salvation. Eternal life. Remember, God never drops the ball.

Sometimes in life, we build up the hype so much that it's inevitable for the real deal, the main event, to be anything but a grave disappointment. Not so with our Heavenly Father. Not so with His Son. Not so with Advent. Christmas comes... with or without the external trappings, no matter the circumstances. Christmas arrives in peacetime and war. It comes in both feast and famine, because Christmas has one foot in earth and one in heaven. Our anticipation begins here, and our joy builds. One day it will be fulfilled, realized in the most glorious way possible.

Satan can't touch that.

We're not the only ones looking forward to a reunion, you know. The One who made us, created us to be just who He imagined us to be, is at the window too... watching, straining to see us coming. The One who stretched out His hands for us at Calvary is at the gate, anticipating the moment He gets to wrap His arms around us, welcoming us home.

In the meantime... we wait, with giddy anticipation.

Satan thinks he has stolen our joy, our hope. Like the Grinch he is, he's tried his best to lay things bare and inhospitable, taking everything from the tree to the roast beast. He has scattered seeds of doubt and discontent, but seeds can only sprout when given attention and care. This Christmas we refuse to fall into that trap. Joy DOESN'T just come in the morning. Joy comes in the middle of the night too, deep in the darkness, as we await... as we anticipate... the dawn.

"Break Foth, O Beauteous Heavenly Light,

And usher in the morning.

Ye shepherds, shrink not with afright,

The day of grace is dawning.

This child, though weak in infancy,

Our confidence and joy shall be,

The pow'r of Satan breaking,

Our peace with God now making." - LSB #378