Anticipation: It Does a Body Good

photo from here

Work, play, shower, sleep, eat. Life tends to get repetitious, even banal. Sprinkle friends and creative projects in the mix. Add a dash of laughter and a smattering of beauty and refreshment. These are sweet spots – reprieve from the toil, toil under the sun.

What a gift it is to eat and drink, merry make and find joy in smallness. But, I still taste the hopelessness of those Ecclesiastes words. I echo with my own fist shaking. I ask the same questions.

I wonder why it is that I need so desperately for something to look forward to beyond my current address. There is always something to want. Always something to strive for in the greener pastures I think I see beyond my horizon.

Thoughts of a new adventure overcame me this morning. I have been travelling down a path of wondering, and to be quite honest, I’ve felt better today than I have in quite some time. And all it took was thinking about something TO COME.

There is something so deep set in our hearts that is nourished by anticipation. The Sunday school answer here is to say that I know it’s because we all hope for heaven, for Jesus’ doubling-back to earth. And, I know it’s true.

But I still kid myself into believing hope sometimes means believing that life will get better when x,y, and z happen. I am soothed by the thought of a quicker fix to my longing.

This advent season, I desperately want for my heart to soak in the truth that what I wait for can be found in the manger.