Anticipation

I'm back at seminary, something I had seen looming on the horizon for quite some time.  It's funny the way I seem to be constantly looking forward to something.  Even as I type this, I'm sitting in the brand new library here at seminary, a space I had been waiting to open all of last year.

It could be a bad habit to be continually looking for the future.  So I try not to be too forward looking, appreciating what I have right here.  However, after something I heard in church on Sunday gave me an exception to the rule.  We were watching a video series that featured a number of scientists.  One of them, Stuart Kauffman, was quoted saying something to the extent of, "The world has always anticipated us."  This was drawn out to explain how God is always waiting to welcome us into where we are, as opposed to strong-armed us and marched us into place.  I can't help but think of how joyful a God like this must be.  

It reminded me of how it felt to return to seminary.  I came a little later than most students.  This meant that all of my friends had already arrived.  The welcome I received from them was full of excitement.  I knew that they were happy to see me.  I knew I was loved and that I belonged.

What a way to situate oneself in the world, then, but to know that God is holding the possibilities for the future, ready to welcome us there.  Not passively, either, but excited even that we just might end up exactly where we are supposed to be.  It's one thing to feel welcomed, but another to feel like you were anticipated and expected to come all along.

For me to share the love of God is to tell those who I encounter that I have been anticipating them.  I have been waiting to welcome them.  To let people know that I am so happy that they are exactly where they are in that moment.  May we all practice some of that joyful anticipation.