Tag: anticipation

  • Pause

    Sunrise over the Cuyamaca Mountains

    Kristen and I were laying around this morning and talking about where we are at in this moment.

    I am so future-focused that I struggle to think about the present. Even when I give my full presence I have a tendency to think, “What’s next?”

    We took some time to breathe in this moment. This hour. This day. This stage of life we will forever label, “pre-Tres.”

    In the next 36 hours Kristen will give birth to our third child. We agree, we are completely over waiting for him to arrive.

    Kristen made the remark that typically February is one of those months that just flies by– but Tres’s arrival has made it different. This February has dragged. Each day seems a couple hours longer than the day before. I compared it to the last two weeks of school before summer break. Impatient anticipation.

    So, with the sun revealing a new day over the Cuyamaca Mountains and the pitter-patter of rain giving way to a glorious lazy Sunday, we hit the pause button and remembered the days Megan and Paul were born. Glorious days. Hallmarks of our life.

    Each day, so unique and special. Each day seems like a million days ago and yesterday at the same time.

    The next 36 hours will bear witness to and create unique memories for Tres’s arrival. Things will happen which will become folklore in our family. Some moments we think are precious will soon be forgotten. And other moments that seem insignificant in the moment will become significant as time passes.

    In these last few hours of our life, pre-Tres, we are a mixed bag of holding on to the life we know and eagerly awaiting our new life to begin.

    But mostly, we are ready to hit the play button and meet our new son!

  • The Anticipation of Christmas

    A shared experience most of us have is waiting for Christmas morning. Wait? Waiting sucks! Christmas may be the one last great place we all wait for something… in a “now” culture, to have something to wait for is a lesson waiting to be taught.

    I remember that my family wasn’t very consistent with Christmas morning. Some years we woke up at the buttcrack of dawn to tear all of our presents open before collapsing for an 8 AM nap. Other years we woke up and had to stay in our rooms while my dad and stepmom made breakfast and made us eat a big breakfast before opening presents. Pure evil torture! My mom only seems to remember one Christmas in relationship to growing up. Her first year as a single mom… she refers to this Christmas a lot as the tree with one strand of lights. We had nothing. I think it broke her heart to know that we had almost nothing to open. But as a kid it wasn’t a big deal! Even as a young married couple, there was a time when the anticipation of Christmas was too much and our “just one” present on Christmas eve turned into opening everything under the tree. We totally ruined Christmas morning in a moment of guilty tearing! Something tells me, as a newlywed couple, that we’d had enough waiting that year! “Forget waiting… we’re free!”

    But I think having kids finally has helped me understand gift giving as anticipation.

    Two thousand years ago the people of the earth yearned in anticipation for the Messiah. Paul captured this feeling of waiting vs. anticipation quite well in Romans 8:

    We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

    Christmas and gift giving are integrally tied to the anticipation of the moment we discover what we’re receiving. It’s emotional and it’s physical, isn’t it?

    Everyday our kids ask me, “How much more (sic) longer until I get to open my gifts?” and “Tell me what my gifts are!” This is our kids groaning in anticipation of present time!

    The anticipation of Christmas is really a flashback physical experience of the anticipation of 2,000 years ago. The earth groaned for a Messiah… they waited in anticipation. They longed for the Chosen One. The moment of his arrival was precious.

    Silent night, holy night
    All is calm, all is bright
    Round yon Virgin Mother and Child
    Holy Infant so tender and mild
    Sleep in heavenly peace
    Sleep in heavenly peace

    Silent night, holy night!
    Shepherds quake at the sight
    Glories stream from heaven afar
    Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia!
    Christ, the Saviour is born
    Christ, the Saviour is born

    Silent night, holy night
    Son of God, love’s pure light
    Radiant beams from Thy holy face
    With the dawn of redeeming grace
    Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth
    Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth

    I love experiencing Christmas through the eyes of a 5 and 7 year old. Each day they wake up and carefully examine the tree and their stockings to see if anything new has appeared. They each count how many gifts have their name on them. Their anticipation is more than mental, it is physical! They literally groan. “Is it here yet?” On Wednesday night they won’t be able to sleep as the anticipation will be too much! On Thursday morning we will torture them by making them lay in bed while we prepare the living room. In those last few moments it will be real, emotional, PHYSICAL anticipation.

    It’s our job as parents to remind them of that moment. That moment is the real meaning of Christmas. God answered the earth physical anticipation and groaning with the Child.