“O Lord, you alone are my hope…” —Psalm 71:5a
Hope is exciting. Hope is a thrill, a rush, a momentum, an energy. The hope I am talking about isn’t bungie jumping, cliff diving, or surfing twelve-foot ocean swells, though this is certainly exciting for some. On the quieter side, the hope I am talking about also is knowing that, after a long day in a long week, that bedtime is coming soon.
I remember the first time I met an avid reader who told me she always read the ending of the novel first. She wanted to know how the story ended. Of course, she could never understand the storyline at that point, but she read it anyway.
The thrill of hope in our walk with Jesus is that we know how the story ends. In our reading and rereading, the Old and New Testaments combined lead us to heaven which waits for those who know and call on God’s Son. Because we know how the story ends, specifically, because we know how our story ends, we live our lives differently. We live our lives with hope.
No one’s story is without sags, scrapes, sores, and sour moments. We toss hope out the window. We question why we suffer. We get down and depressed or anxious or fearful about news on the planet, the latest being that the Amazon forest, which produces 20% of the world’s oxygen, is currently on fire.
But this isn’t the end of the story. This isn’t the end of your story.
Oh yes, there are hard moments.
An amazing, spirited, and hardworking woman I admire fills her eyes with tears in seconds over the sudden and tragic loss of her granddaughter. Moving into some of her days with hope is really, really hard. She is the walking billboard that loss hurts too deeply.
She knows where her granddaughter is, though. This is fact. She also knows where she is going. This, too, is a fact. You cannot argue either of these truths with this Christian.
And this? This is thrilling. What else is thrilling is you know someone like her because you walk your wobbling faith right along with her.
PRAYER: A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices, for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn…That morn is with you, dear Jesus, and THIS is EXCITING. Amen.
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This rescue picture is one of many that are similar. The little lamp is fine. This picture compels me to think of rough waters, teamwork, the value of life, and hope itself.