My 10-year-old son is always excited about something. He’ll wake up in the morning and tell me, “Daddy, I’m excited.” When I ask him why, it could be anything. He was excited we were about to go see some old Wisconsin friends. He was excited that a video game was scheduled to have an update. He was excited to go swimming at a friend’s house. He was excited to get an Emerge t-shirt (our church’s men’s ministry). He was excited to go see Grandma and Grandpa for Christmas. He was excited to paint his bedroom. He was excited to have tri-tip for dinner. He was excited to ride in Kelly’s new car.
He is always excited.
And it annoyed me. I’d try to be a “good dad”, and not let him see me roll my eyes when he’d tell me, but I was getting tired of always hearing that he was excited, especially because most of the things seemed pretty mundane to me. Don’t get me wrong. I wasn’t angry or anything, and I never tried to squash his excitement, and he never even knew that I was getting annoyed, but I was just getting tired of hearing him always say, “Daddy, I’m excited.”
Then one day, in the midst of feeling annoyed at his excitement, I felt the Holy Spirit tell me to tell him that I loved how excited he was about things. I felt like I was lying, but I told him. I told him, “Hey, I just wanted to let you know that I love how excited you are about life.”
His love language is video games and hugs. That night I got the biggest, unsolicited, genuine hug he had given in a while. How could I have ever been annoyed at his genuine excitement and anticipation for every part of his life?
The weirdest thing happened that night, though. Ever since then, I have been excited to hear what he is excited about. I want to be more like him. I have so much to learn from him. Perhaps excitement is contagious?
I’ve been saying to myself for a while that I am hungry to know God more, to be closer to Him, to hear His voice more clearly. That’s not a new desire.
But hunger is not enough.
So now, instead of just having that hunger, I am excited about it. I’m excited to see where this walk takes me this year. I’m excited to listen to what He says about our business. I’m excited to talk about Him. I’m excited to talk to Him.
It’s a new year—a new decade, in fact. It’s the time of year that people think about the things in their lives that they want to change, and the resolve to make those changes. I don’t think much about new year’s resolutions, but I am making one for 2020.
This year is the year of excitement, anticipation and expectation. Let’s go!
Always be joyful.
This post is part of the Januwordy 2020 challenge. Today’s prompt is “hunger”.