Anticipation

As I sit here in the comfort of my well-worn glider rocker in the climate-controlled peacefulness of my living room, the thought that continually runs through the neurons and synapses of my cortex is the anticipation of nearly a week’s worth of less-than-comfortable, unable-to-be-controlled weather to be experienced from a perch of about 20 feet high in a tree stand. Yes – I’ve got deer hunting on my mind, and the anticipation of getting away from the norm and stepping into the abnormal and unpredictable for the next few days has my mind racing faster than Usain Bolt at the Olympics and has my pulse nudging the precipice of absolute cardiac arrest, but dog-gone it…I LOVE IT!  Now, I fully understand that some of you have zero percent of an understanding of why something so out of line with our modern-day comfort-crazed way of life would cause such an anticipation in me, but neither do I understand why someone would bombard a shopping center in the wee hours of the morning to push and pull their way to a deal that qualifies as being a “Black Friday” caliber of a deal, but I get that some folks dig that kind of kicks…everybody has their “thing” I suppose…

Anyhow, it isn’t of absolute necessity that we understand the stimulus for each others’ anticipation, but it is in our best interest to agree on one simple thing…it does us good to anticipate, look forward to, long for, desire certain events and activities that don’t come around so often as to be considered a normal thing in life. This anticipation keeps us looking beyond today, keeps us fighting the good fight in the here-and-now, and keeps us filled with imagination like a kid at Christmastime over just what it will be like when we finally  arrive at the date, place, event, experience, etc. that our anticipatory hearts have been longing for.

When it comes to the Christian life, allow me to meddle in your personal business through a series of directly personal and thought provoking questions: *Does the thought of spending some quiet moments alone with God in His word give you that quickened heart rate like, oh, say…catching the highlights of Saturday’s college football games on ESPN for the fifty millionth time?…*Do our hearts long for the time we spend with the family of God at church on Sunday like they do for the time spent around the TV watching the NFL game?…*Do we jump through hoops and go out of our way to love God and others like I am going out of my way right now to make a hunting trip happen?…We could keep this line of questioning going forever, but I think we get the picture. With the same intensity as we desire the cool things of life that we personally get into, it would do us well to come before the Lord, and ask Him to give us a heart that longs for Him.

Scripture tells us clearly that God “richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.” (1 Timothy 6:17). So in the unique way that God has wired each one of us to perceive and enjoy different aspects of life, let’s not lose sight of the fact that God WANTS His children to enjoy life and all of the stuff that makes it up…just not at the expense of relegating Him to second, third, fourth, or some other place on the priority list of our lives. As Paul warned the church at Rome, let us never settle for “serving the created things rather than the Creator.” (Romans 1:25). As our pace of life gets faster and faster and technology advances (Yes – the kind of technology that allows you to access this digital message from a device you carry around in your purse or pocket) it will require more and more discipline on our part to both enjoy God through all He has created for our enjoyment and honor God with the best of our time, talents, and resources…but it is infinitely worthwhile my friends!

So with a mind that bubbles over with anticipation for a time that I hope to enjoy, I implore you to look forward with anticipation to your own times of enjoyment, all the while looking for the fingerprints of God to show up around or in the middle of whatever it is that captures your imagination like the hunt captures mine. And whether our anticipated events cause us to bump into each other under the Friday Night Lights of a local football game or on a secluded trail that leads to the best hunting spot ever – as long as it doesn’t include Black Friday Shopping…I’ll see you in the Great Outdoors!