Anticipation

by Cindy Frauenheim

Fall is just around the corner, and I find myself in a pleasant frame of mind. Okay, that is a general statement, since I did get a bit too annoyed this morning when the granola was spilled all over the kitchen floor, but there is something about autumn that I really love. It may have something to do with school, as I always couldn’t wait for school to start when I was young; or it may be that Mark & I were married in the fall (20 years next month!); or that my favorite colors are the colors of autumn (my house looks like fall even in spring); or maybe it’s because fall is the harbinger of warm, cozy, family times coming just around the corner – like Thanksgiving and Christmas. But then I realize that I have always loved the experience of anticipating something good coming up. This goes way back, and it really goes deep too. I remember looking forward to summer vacation, to relatives coming to visit, to a birthday celebration (anyone’s!), to a new pair of shoes (do we outgrow that?), to rain and maybe a fire in the fireplace, to the next basketball or volleyball game, to my brother’s visit home from the Navy. I can remember even telling my mom how much I love just looking forward.

Now I look forward to many of the same things, but many are more “daily” like seeing my kids each morning, time stolen away with my husband (even just lunch), the peaches, tomatoes, and apples that ripen in our tiny yard, seeing a good friend, beautiful or dramatic weather, a hike, quiet time with a good book, preparing and enjoying a good meal, and yes, carving out quiet time at the foot of my Savior. Looking forward causes me to be in a grateful state of mind as I understand the many blessings God has given me. And some days, when circumstances are not easy, and I am wondering what good can come of this particular situation, looking forward – and upward – is very comforting.

What can possibly cause us to look forward with greater anticipation than knowing that Christ has saved us from death and longs to live with us forever in a new heavens and earth that we can’t even get our minds around? Whatever brings us pleasure here, whatever good we see and experience; those are just tiny inklings of what he has prepared for us. At the same time, whatever heartache and despair we travel through here on this earth, though it may seem endless, will not be worth comparing to what lies ahead.

"I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently." Romans 8:18-25

I have become convinced that this forward-looking focus is a God-given, Spirit-led gift and journey. He has been pointing me towards himself all along, and continues to do so. He wants me to delight in what he has done for me, and what he has prepared for me! He wants me to inspire that delight in my children, my husband, and friends and strangers that cross my path.

Lord, thank you for the many blessings you have given me along this journey of life. Thank you for giving me faith, and for your spirit that points me forward to a day when I will see you face to face. Thank you for the comfort of your promise that you are working in all the things of my life – for my good! Help me to be content to be about the calling you have for me here and now, and yet to have my heart set on heaven. Enable me to be courageous to follow you in every area of my life, and to be encouraged by the knowledge that you will right every wrong, and you will liberate all creation.