Good Sunday Morning,
“We can never know about the days to come. But we think about them anyway.” Bonus points to whoever immediately recognized that as the opening line to Carly’s Simon 1971 hit song “Anticipation” . . . and now, double points to whoever’s thoughts immediately jumped to the Heinz ketchup theme song.
For those of you that had no problem going there, personally I am a bit worried about you, but I appreciate you . . . you’re my kind of people.
Anticipation is a wonderful word. It describes the act of looking forward, especially of something good approaching. In our world, there are always many opportunities to feel anticipation.
For example: a COVID vaccine, payday, the resuming of limited in-person worship, and chocolate cookies in the oven. Hold on, I know where you thought I was going with this message, but since it is Sunday morning, I am contractually obligated to divert your focus back to something a bit more unsecular.
So, let me try this . . . normally, whenever we ask someone for something, we expect an answer; and then, usually / hopefully we anticipate the realization of the answer. As God’s children we should do no less. We should anticipate great things from God. We should expect Him to hear our prayers and we should anticipate (remember, that means having an expectation of something good happening) that he will respond.
Our anticipation should be so much so that afterward, we should fervently look all around us for his answer and response. It’ll be there, but if you do not anticipate it, you’ll likely not notice it. We are reminded throughout the Bible of other instances of anticipation. We’re told -
“Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.” Joshua 3:5
Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. James 1:12
“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but desire fulfilled is a tree of life.” Proverbs 13:12
“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” Romans 8:18
So, pour yourself a cup of coffee, sit back, relax, and then . . . anticipate God’s work being a part of your life . . . and take solace in knowing that the Lord has made this day, may you rejoice and be glad in it.
Jeff Bergstrom
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P.P.S. A more recent example of anticipation is in the song Heaven, by Kane Brown. In that song, the chorus is “Everybody's talkin' about heaven like they just can't wait to go. Sayin' how it's gonna be so good, so beautiful.” It is my hope for you and those in your life, that such anticipation will not overcome you and that you will live long and prosper . . . really, I was giving you a sincere benediction and you lost your focus and jumped to a different thought. If so, that’s OK, perhaps you can anticipate that we’ll boldly go there on another Sunday morning.
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