Anticipation

55 days, 23 days, 11 days, 2 days…

Our recent vacation was full of anticipation. From the moment the trip was booked everyone was giddy with excitement. The kids were counting down the days and as we approached the final week, the anticipation was off the chart. It was basically all my kids could talk about!

At one point my son mentioned he liked the anticipation of things almost more than the actual things sometimes.

I get it. We do that in life right?

We anticipate a big event…we are consumed with excitement and countdowns and preparations…and then the event passes and life goes back to normal.

We wait and wait and we feed off that adrenaline of anticipating…and life always goes back to a new normal after. (There are even some tears shed because the event is over.)

Then we move on to the next thing. And then we anticipate a new thing…

The thing about heaven is…this anticipation…it will be replaced by those feelings of joy all the time. The anticipation never goes away. There will be no moving on the next thing. It will be the ultimate satisfaction.

It will be an eternity of completely fulfilled joy.

No matter what joy we have on earth…and we certainly had joy on our vacation…it can never compare to the joy in heaven. We anticipate here because we are longing for something more…our souls were made for more…that is why we find ourselves enjoying the anticipation.

The anticipation of heaven. Now that is a wonder. Our soul will no longer crave or long for something. We will be complete.

I have learned that earthly joys are temporary, but true joy comes from knowing this whole life is just a countdown to something better. This is not what we live for…we live for something far beyond our best vacation, best event, best joy here on earth. We can’t comprehend it.

So we enjoy the earthly blessings we have. But we know there is so much more…

And that is the anticipation that will never end.