Intentional Living

Looking for hope…

The pastor asked, how do you define hope?
Confidence
Assurance
The light at the end of the tunnel
Settled and certain belief
Something comforting
A promise
Waiting for the good to come
Believing for a better future

It’s hard to wrap words around hope. It is powerful, but elusive. In the Hunger Games, president Snow described hope as the only thing more powerful than fear. I have found that to be true, it is powerful but it is not strong. Hope begins as barely a whisper. Hope is vulnerable and easily dismissed. Hope is dangerous because it looks forward to a better future. Hope suggests there could be more.
Hope whispers this is not the end.
Hope whispers it can be better.
Hope whispers relationships are worth the effort.
Hope whispers new life comes after loss.
Hope whispers keep going.
The prophets of old spoke of a hope to come, One who would set things right. From first book of the Bible, through the last there are whispers of hope. A red thread that hangs from a harlot’s window and offers a way out. A promise of life, family, possibility, more…Hope flickers in the cold winds of loss, betrayal, conflict, and difficulty. It is vulnerable and quiet, but it grows confident in relationship.
Hope clings to promises while looking for the One who promised. The prophets put their hope in the Living God and rested their lives on His promises. They did not know how, or when He would come, but were confident that He would come. Like us, they had ideas of what it would look like, but their ideas did not match the reality of a baby in a manger, wrapped in swaddling clothes. God with us… Immanuel.
As you come into the this Advent season, what is the hope flickering in your heart?

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