Our family, which includes our 12 kids, likes to go camping. It’s an affordable vacation that makes great memories for everyone.
But truthfully, the camping experience itself is often not as enjoyable as the anticipation that it builds during the planning phase. Sleeping on the ground with bugs crawling on you and mosquitoes feeding on you is just not as comfortable as sleeping in an air conditioned bedroom. But it’s the anticipation of looking forward to a special event that makes us keep doing it.
Anticipation is powerful motivation. When we have nothing to anticipate, we have trouble getting up in the morning, staying focused through the day, and having the energy needed to accomplish our goals.
The long term viability of anticipation depends on the quality of the object being anticipated. For the Christian, anticipation involves waking up each morning excited about what God is going to do that day. When we train ourselves to think that way, we create a cycle of recurring anticipation that makes us redeem the time.
Rick Grubbs is best known as the host of “Redeeming the Time,” a one-minute radio program featured on hundreds of radio outlets around the world. He has spoken thousands of times on Biblical time management in all 50 states and 26 other countries. He is the author of the book “Morning Momentum: God’s plan for launching an unstoppable day”. He and his wife Carrie live in Salisbury NC with several of their 12 children.
