Anticipation

On August 1, 2022, instead of lounging poolside with a book and an iced coffee, I stood in the doorway of my classroom and welcomed students back from summer vacation. It was roughly about 700 degrees outside.

In my mind, once school begins the temperatures should drop, leaves should beginning changing colors, pumpkin spice everything should hit the shelves, and autumn should be in full swing.

Instead, we go back pretty much in the middle of the summer.

Since August 1, I’ve been anticipating the arrival of autumn. I step out of the school building each afternoon hoping for a cool breeze, and instead I am welcomed by a blast of 90 degree heat. Each Sunday evening I have looked at the forecast for the upcoming week, hoping that cooler temperatures would mark each upcoming day. Instead I would put my phone down, disappointed that, once again, each day would be in the high 80s.

Then September 22 arrived and it was as if autumn was awaiting it’s turn, because on the first official day of autumn, the temperature dropped. To honor the arrival this long awaited friend, I sipped a Pumpkin Spice latte and had Pumpkin Spice cereal for dinner because I am very refined and fancy.

Last weekend, I got up early and went to the gym. On the drive home, I looked up at the trees on the streets I drive everyday and could see that some of them had spots of oranges and reds. To say I was excited is an understatement. I absolutely, without a doubt, love autumn, and I look forward to its arrival every year.

While driving and trying to both look at the trees and stay in my lane, I started to think about all the things that I look forward to: decorating for each season, the holidays and the family traditions that come with it, Halloween and scary stories, Advent calendars, seasonal foods, occasions to spend time with friends and families, and so many other things.

I especially love getting to spend time with friends and family. The feeling of reuniting with someone after time spent apart is second to none. My friend Heidi came to visit last March. I hadn’t seen her for several months, and I couldn’t wait for her arrival. Days before her flight was due to come in, we amped up our daily texting. I could hardly concentrate at work because I was anticipating her arrival that evening. Finally the time came, and I walked into the airport and stood at the bottom of the escalator near the baggage claim excitedly scanning each face. When I spotted her, we waved to each other like maniacs until we were able to hug and laugh and just enjoy being together again.

I’m thankful that each time I visit Heidi, it doesn’t matter if we haven’t seen each other for a couple of months or a couple of years, it feels as if no time has passed. We always pick right up where we left off. This is partly because we’ve known each other for many years and partly because we text each other multiple times a day, and we make time to see each other despite the 12 hour distance between us. In other words, we invest in our friendship.

During my tree-watching drive, as I considered all the things I anticipate, I was reminded of I John 2:28 “Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.”

Even more exciting than the arrival of autumn or a friend or the hustle and bustle of the holidays, is knowing that one day I’ll finally get to meet Jesus face to face. Like the verse says, I want to be abiding in Him daily, moment by moment, so that when He arrives I can confidently approach- or run, embrace, fall at His feet, dance with, laugh with- and not shrink away in shame or have to introduce myself or get reacquainted because I haven’t been spending time with Him because I’ve been busy putting up my Christmas tree or sampling all the pumpkin spice flavored things or reading books or whatever else I find to fill my time.