Dear Tracy,
 
Have you ever had children?  I have had 5.  Before each birth, usually starting several weeks before the child is actually due, you start to get contractions.  As the days wear on they get more intense, they might even get regular for a while (there by making you think "okay this is it!").  You are so excited for the day the child will get here, you are tired of being heavy, uncoordinated and anxious.  You even look forward to the pain you know is coming, just because you can hardly wait to look into the eyes of that new born child.  I believe God gives us a small glimpse of the love we will have with the Lord, looking into His eyes, when we see our children for the first time.
 
He related the end times to child birth.  So when these days that we look to for His coming, come and go, I look at them like the contractions that get really regular, I get really excited, but when they pass, just know that they are in fact birth pains, and the child is coming...The Lord is coming if not today, or next month, then soon.  He did promise us that.
 
Looking up for our redemption draws nigh,
Jill