I was at the airport yesterday picking up my wife upon her return from a brief trip abroad.

It took some time from the landing of the flight until she made it out through luggage, passport control and customs, and during that time I was in the Arrivals lounge observing the various people waiting for loved ones.

I noticed that every single person was waiting and anticipating the moment their arriving friend or relative would step out through those doors. People position themselves in the best possible location they can find that gives them the best view of the doors, and beyond the doors for the fleeting moments they are open, so they can see their relative at the first possible moment they are see-able.

They jockey for position and they wait there. Then every time someone walks through the doors, everyone is straining to see if it is their relative or maybe their relative is behind them and you can catch a glimpse deep in the Custoims room while the doors are still open.

Then finally your relatives/friend steps out from behind the doors. Most people go running to give them a hug and kiss. Some play it cooler and wait until he/she comes down the lane and steps out of the main view of the public.

The tension while waiting, the anticipation we have, for our arriving spouse/child/cousin/friend, even if they were just on a brief trip and we had seen each other a week before, or if it was a long trip and we had seen each other only 15 years before, or never before, I think that anticipation is what we are supposed to be feeling towards Mashiach.

If we would be waiting for Mashiach with the same level of anticipation as we do for our relatives coming from a brief trip abroad (no easy task), I think he would already have arrived.
If we would consider that Mashiach's flight has landed and we are just waiting for him to step out through those doors, he would probably step out pretty quickly.