Anticipation!

How many of you remember what it was like as a child when Christmas was soon to be over and you were already dreaming what next years Christmas was going to be like?
The presents, time spent with family and friends.  Going to church and watching Christmas programs, some good, some not so good. 
But the experience left you anticipating next years Christmas.  You could hardly wait.  And months and weeks and especially the days before Christmas your eyes would light up and your heart would thump in your chest and you thought you would die if Christmas didn't come any sooner.
Anticipation!  It was something worth waiting for.
Your birthday was another day that couldn't come soon enough.  You were going to be made to feel like the most special person for at least a day.  No one else could share that with you, unless you were a twin or any kind of multiple birth child.  But when that big day approached you were giddy.  You told EVERONE "My birthday is coming up" or "Did you know my birthday is tomorrow".  You would smile and beam just knowing that one day out of the year was special just to you.
Anticipation!  It was something worth waiting for.
Ladies.  How many of you remember waiting for that first kiss?  That first "I love you"?  That day when you were going to walk down the aisle into the arms of the man that said you were the one he had waited for all of his life?  That first time they laid your child in your arms and you never knew that your heart could ever be so full?  You had dreamed about these moments all of your life.  Hopefully most of you have experienced those moments.  Your eyes would light up as you told your girlfriends or a sister or your mom, "I hope he tells me he loves me soon,"  because you were dying to tell him.  The thrill you got in the pit of your stomach when he held you in his arms for the first time and kissed you full on the mouth and you thought you would faint from it.  The planning that had went into your wedding and you hadn't even met him yet and yet there he was waiting for you and you wanted to run to him.  When you would rub your stomach and call the little being growing inside you "My baby" as you decorated a room not knowing what it would be.  A boy or a girl?  Who would it look like?  Who would it act like?  Then the pain and thinking to yourself "What was I thinking?  This hurts.  I changed my mind."  But then they laid him or her in your arms and the tears began to flow.  This new little being was the most beautiful child that was ever born in the history of all children being born. 
Anticipation!  It was something worth waiting for.
Today I heard a story of an elderly woman.  As she was leaving church one day, she was tired and weary and her body was aching with age.  Her legs had been wobbling and hurting and she had been having a hard time walking recently.  As she stopped to talk to the Pastor she endearingly asked him, "Do you know where I can get a new set of legs?"  Without missing a beat he told her he absolutely did, heaven, but she would have to wait a while to get them.  She smiled and went on her way.  "It's worth the wait," she said.
Anticipation!
Heaven.  It is something worth waiting for.  I heard said the other day for those of us who know the Lord and are looking forward to living with Him in heaven some day that we always talk about heaven as if it is the "After life" but that in all actuality we should really be referring to this life that we are living now as the "Before life".
We have heard of heaven.  What ever we have heard or can imagine can hardly begin to touch what we believe it to be.  To me the most wonderful thing about heaven is the fact that my Saviour is there.  The lover of my soul.  The one who gave His all for me on the cross when He didn't have to.  I will get to see His blessed face and I will get to thank Him and praise Him and love Him more than I could possibly imagine.  Heaven is real. 
Here on earth we have hope of what heaven is.  We say in passing "It is just a little taste of heaven."  And really, that is all that it is, a taste.  Did you ever walk into the kitchen while Thanksgiving Dinner was almost done and you kept asking "How much longer?"  The answer was almost always "Soon."  You wanted a little taste and sometimes you were given one.  Your mouth would be drooling and the tiny bit of turkey that was handed to you made you only want more.
Anticipation!  It was something worth waiting for.
That is what heaven is like.  We have that blessed hope.
Titus 2:13-14 tells us "While we wait for the blessed hope - the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for Himself a people that are His very own, eager to do what is good!"
Anticipation!  It is worth waiting for!!