Anticipate the Table

Anticipation means hope, eagerness, and expectation. Anticipate means to "beat someone to it", get ahead, or do in advance. Christmas reminds the Christian that we live in anticipation but that in living in hope we are called to actively anticipate. We are to live like children who anticipate the Christmas season by working hard at their school work. For instance, in my home, my kids work really hard in August on their home school work so that they can take off from Thanksgiving week until Christmas. They anticipate not just with feelings but with actions as they wait for their favorite time of the year. In the Bible, those who lived before Jesus taught us how to anticipate the 2nd advent in the way that they anticipated the 1st advent during very real earthly battles, struggles, successes and failures.