Are We There Yet?

Are we there yet...
Expectant waiting and anticipation--children are the worst and the best. On long trips, the repeated question from young children over and over is, "How much longer?"
"Are we there yet?"
"I'm bored!"
Time is not their friend. Sitting still is agony, which makes sitting in a school classroom all day long an unnatural discipline--waiting for the dismissal bell before they can skip, hop, laugh, and run.
Overcharged energy and impulsivity make children the worst at waiting.
Children anticipate losing their first tooth, getting their first puppy, learning to ride a bike and the glory days of summer. Christmas, above all, ramps a child's anticipation with excitement. They can't wait!
"Please, please, please, can I open one present early?"
Their excitement could light a city.
Thankfully, my parents permitted a tradition of opening one gift on Christmas Eve. In retrospect, I wonder if it was intended to lower our excitement in hopes that we might sleep in a little longer Christmas morning.
Children are the best at anticipation.
Admittedly, Christmas is commercialized but if you step back and look through a different lense, doesn't a child's anticipation of Christmas Day perfectly capture the essence of Advent? Advent is the expectant waiting and anticipation of the Nativity of Jesus.
Children simply are the best.
"He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 18:2-4 New International Version (NIV)
As a child and through a child we celebrate Advent and look forward to Christmas.

~ LowTide explorer, Carolyn Fjeran


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