Anticipation

Wow! It was stinkin' cold again yesterday morning! 19 below zero on my way in to work! Yikes!! This past week I saw a morning show host say that "someone" has determined that January 6th is the most depressing day of the year. I could believe it. After the high of all the Christmas season hoopla we realize that the next big holiday doesn't occur until the end of May. Plus it's absolutely freezing out! And dark! I go to work in the dark and come home in the dark. It truly is a VERY depressing time of the year.

Watching the weather on TV doesn't help much. It's plenty dismal all by itself. All the negative temperatures and wind chill warnings. We need to be more positive!! As in ABOVE freezing! Hey, when the HIGH temperature is BELOW ZERO, something is just not right. But then the weather guy redeemed himself last night with his extended forecast. He revealed that Saturday's temperature is actually supposed to be ABOVE freezing!! Saturday is supposed to be 50 degrees warmer than it was on Tuesday! There IS hope!! I don't know about you but just knowing that warmer weather is coming helps me get through the nastiness we're living in right now.

"Just wait until Saturday!! Oh, boy! It's going to be SO nice! Maybe all that icy, yucky stuff that has built up behind my car's tires will finally melt off and die!! That would be nice. And maybe I'll have a shot at getting the Christmas lights down off our roof. Oh my goodness, I look forward to Saturday. I look forward to the future in hopeful anticipation!"

Hmm, anticipation. That reminds me of a song. Did you ever hear that Carly Simon song from the 70's, "Anticipation"? Give it a listen.

Anticipation by Carly Simon

Carly is a good singer, smiles a lot and the song has a nice bouncy tune but the lyrics are downright depressing. You're not making me feel any better Carly!!

The woman in Carly's song is thinking about her current relationship, and how she's not sure it will last so she wants to enjoy the relationship right now, ending the song with "these are the good old days." She's not sure the relationship has a future. No anticipation about things to come? Come on girl! If living in the moment is the best you can ever hope for, no wonder we depressed.

Hope for warmer temperatures is nice. Hope for the coming spring is ever better. Oh, the smell of freshly cut grass, the sound of children laughing as they pass by our house on their bikes. All that stuff is good. But there IS something better. The hope of a future beyond these earthly confines. Hopeful anticipation of a brighter future, beyond our pitiful imaginings. Hope of a future beyond this stagnant, frozen world. Anticipation of our Lord and Savior, Jesus. And His return!

Do you have this hope? Do you have assurance? Do you have . . . anticipation?

"11 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." - Hebrews 11:1

"7 But as for me, I will watch expectantly for the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me." - Micah 7:7

"3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." - 1 Peter 1:3-5

And oh, what a glorious day that will be!

Glorious Day by Casting Crowns