I'm beggin' you to be my escape...

Lately I've been really anticipating the arrival of Thanksgiving and Christmas. Every year, as soon as Halloween is over, my mind turns to the thought of family, food, and vacation. But upon pondering these things I've been thinking about how it seems that the anticipation of such events is almost always better then the actual events themselves. The thought of being with my family, seeing old friends, getting fatter with every scrumptious morsel, and the exchanging of gifts gets me really excited, but then once all of it is over is seems that it has come and gone much too fast. It seems to me that many things in life occur in this fashion.

Life can be summed up as a long series of events, and in between these events comes anticipation, which can either be good or bad. I remember as a kid counting down the days to my birthday. The biggest day of the year of course! My big day! Presents and money and cake! All that good stuff. But then when it was all over it was back to the regular way of life. What a big let down! On the flip side, I can remember hating the dentist with a passion. I hated the smell of the office. I hated the feel of that big chair. I hated the sounds. And I especially hated the taste of getting my teeth cleaned. As a little kid I saw this hygenial trip as the definite end of my being. I would cease to exist after going to the dentist. But of course after I went, life went back to normal, and I had a new sense of relief, that is, until another 6 months went by.

Life is often described as a roller coaster that has its ups and downs and twists and turns. And I think anticipation plays a major role in how we react on this journey. But what if we could freeze one moment in particular and live our life in that moment forever? Like U2 sings about being "stuck in a moment", what if we could be stuck in a moment of our choosing? It could be with that one special person, or be a specific feeling that you never want to let go of. We could pause our lives at the exact moment in which we deem that this is the best moment of our lives, and experience it forever. Never to experience another let down. Never to look back and say "Wow, the anticipation was much better then the actual experience".

I think this is what Heaven will be like. We will forever be stuck in a moment of complete glory before the Eternal. Never to experience another let down. Never to ride the roller coaster. Never to look back and say "the anticipation was better"...