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Anticipation
All through our numbered days, events are anticipated, and we shrivel with anxiety that all things must be perfect for that moment. In spite of months of planning, to say nothing of expenses incurred, in spite of advice and how-to instructions, moments of sheer panic nearly destroy us in our anticipation.
I still anticipate events, my birthday not one of those, however. I still anticipate Christmas from one year to the next. I don’t look at the Wish Book, but I try to find nice gifts that everyone will enjoy. What I anticipate is the joy of having all our family gathered together under one roof for a few days. In spite of a year to plan, weeks, even days before that event, things can happen. Flu. Weather. Work. Death. This is our life. It’s never going to be perfect. Brides pass out at the altar. Young people have car wrecks on prom night. An annual reunion can be rained out.
Now that I’m old I see the folly of perfection. It’s an event. It’s a day. This, too, shall pass. I remember most of my prom dresses, but not in order. They were all important. Just not as important as I thought. All our concentration, our energy focuses on the anticipated event. It’s important that we have something to look forward to. Our mental health demands it, in fact. It’s a reason to stay on track, to keep doing the mundane, uninteresting work, to get to our anticipated moment. We need to anticipate, to hope.
And here we are, in our annual anticipated spring-time event, Easter. As a little girl, it meant new patent-leather Sunday School shoes in a bigger size. I remember my youngest son one year, jumping with excitement, saying, “Tell the Easter Bunny to put my basket behind the drapes in the dining room so I won’t know where it is and I can find it and be surprised!” My oldest daughter broke down and cried after her birthday party. Her friends went home, the room was full of wrapping paper and lovely gifts, the kitchen littered in cake crumbs. She cried because it was over. She was happy and sad, a little wad of emotion following her much-anticipated-perfect-party; over.
Anticipation is intended to be a part of our life. Scripture tells us, in several places, how to anticipate, how to prepare, how to live in a state of wait. Peter is wordy instructing us to live in hope in order to receive our inheritance that will never fade away. (1Peter 1:3-4) Hosea, prophet of fewer words, says simply, “Therefore return to your God, observe kindness and justice, and wait for your God continually.” (Hosea 12:6)
Here it comes, once again, anticipated Easter. We’ve had a year to prepare for this Sunday, and more recently, 40 intensive days devoted to prayer, meditation, repentance and reconciliation, and action. Was that enough preparation? Will it be a perfect day? Will the baskets be perfect and no one will be sick? Will all the photos be perfect and all the moments memorable? Easter will come again. In God, all things are made perfect. And He is giving us every opportunity, every moment, to make straight the way of the Lord, to be prepared, to anticipate, not just the egg hunt, but His coming.
I wish each and every one of you a very blessed Easter weekend, and hope it’s everything you anticipated.