Anticipation

I had an x-ray hip injection today. It sounds worse than it is! In fact, when the doctor walked in the first thing he said to me was, "The worst part is over. The anticipation." In this case, it was true! The anticipation of the procedure was much worse than the procedure itself. It didn't help that they told me things prior to the appointment like...you'll need a driver, you'll need to take the day off work. Neither of those things was true, and I am thankful for that. I'm thankful that the shot didn't really hurt all that badly. I'm thankful that the x-ray techs were so much fun and made me laugh the whole time!

As I thought about the doctor's comment, though, I was struck by the idea of anticipation. We anticipate a lot of things! Good and bad. We anticipate Christmas. We anticipate summer. We anticipate lunch! We anticipate a diagnosis. We anticipate fear. We anticipate sadness.

As a Christian, I anticipate what everlasting life in heaven will be like. And I am so thankful that God works in such as way that both the anticipation and the reality will be more than we ever imagined! John 10:10 says, "I have come that they might have life and have it to the full." That's talking about life in the here and now. When we choose to follow Christ and to live our lives by His standard, we can experience this abundant life. We can have abundant life while anticipating everlasting life. The New Testament describes heaven as a place with no more pain and no more sorrow, a place radiating God's glory! With Christ, both the anticipation and the reward are worth it. There isn't a worst part!

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." Ephesians 3:20-21

Thank you my Jesus for the gift of anticipation!