Anticipation

In the Midwest, the anticipation of springtime starts creeping in around the first of March, but it isn’t until two months later that the hummingbirds and orioles finally arrive. The weather warms by slow degrees. The sun feels stronger day by day. Robins return. But Momma always said that the robins get their tails snowed on three times in the spring. Those poor birds may have seen four bouts of the flakes this time around. And still I waited for the hummers.
But this year—2020—by the time those ruby-throated wonders did show up, I was waiting for something else.
Waiting. Anticipating. Some days it feels as waiting is all we’ve been doing during this COVID—19 crisis. First, we waited for the stay-at-home orders to end. We were even given a date. But it was pushed back. And pushed back again. We anticipated the opening, the day we could dine in our favorite restaurants, shop in the downtown store, enter a salon for a long-overdue haircut (or upper-lip wax, oh my!). And just when we believed things were returning to normal, COVID cases surged. Ugh. As Momma used to say, “It’s one step forward and two steps back.”
For many, it’s been a lot worse than overgrown bangs hanging in our eyes. Furlough. The threat of a lost business. It’s been a scary time.
Some have gone back to work. With masks, shields, and hand sanitizer. Staying six feet apart.
And still we wait, craving normalcy. Anticipating the day when restrictions will be lifted—what a blessing it will be to feel safe hugging a friend, hosting a party, meeting with clients.
Makes me think of Matthew 24—but instead of describing the return to normal at the end of a pandemic, this chapter tells about something abundantly better and more important—the return of Jesus. Verses 36 and 44 read like this: “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only . . . Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
Are you ready?