Is this how you live?

As a young boy, it was almost overwhelming watching all the people come and go in Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix. It was my first time being in an airport, and that morning would be my first time meeting my grandparents.

Both of my parents’ families lived in Arkansas. Like my parents, I was born in that state but my family moved shortly after I was born, so most of my experience was growing up in the West. Because of the distance, we didn’t have any interaction with extended family … no aunts, uncles, or cousins as part of growing up.

My dad was a mean man, and all we knew about his dad was that he was supposedly even meaner. But my mother was a wonderful woman, so I was fascinated with the chance to meet her parents. As I watched the airplane taxi up to the gate, I felt great expectation and a sense of joy of having loving grandparents enter into my life.

As we watched the people file out the gate, my mother suddenly pointed. Headed our way was a gray-haired woman with a genuine smile, and a kind-looking man wearing blue overalls topped by a straw hat. My grandparents looked like a stereotype of a couple from rural Arkansas. I couldn’t help but think getting to know them was going to be fun!

It isn’t very often we experience expectation of great new relationships in our lives, or a new joy that would run deep. But living with expectation of a promised joy is exactly how God has designed for His children to live! Look closely at the following scripture:

“All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance — an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see. So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while,” 1 Peter 1:3-6.

It’s easy to live life with our eyes on today’s troubles. But how much better is it to live life with real expectation of a coming joy that will eclipse anything we’ve yet experienced? That gives us something to be glad about even on our toughest days!

Scotty