Hope is Never Lost
The morning sun is darting through our bay window blinds like arrows from a bow. The soft, penetrating light is a warm and welcomed token of renewed grace piercing my soft heart. The grace of another new day, the grace to turn another page in this chapter of life, to see what trials or treasures lie before me, to simply start afresh. The glorious gift of a clean slate is one of God’s gentle gestures that forces our gaze upwards, to the rising Son, and reveals to us the breathtaking transformation that occurs when all things are made new.
Hope invites us to diligently and repeatedly renew it as well. When faced with tests of faith, sometimes our hope can begin to wane like the fading of the light. Situations begin to look grim and appear to go from bad to worse, leading us down a path of misery and mistrust. Mistrust in ourselves and our ability to discern, and even mistrust in God and His plan for us.
Hence why we must turn to Sacred Scripture as our safe harbor amidst the dark and treacherous storms of life. The prophet Jeremiah provides us with a beacon of scriptural light as he proclaims, “For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Trusting is having the faith to keep going, even when darkness has eclipsed your path. If hope is the flicker of an internal flame, then trust is the action by which the hand vigilantly cups around it in anticipation of the winds that will surely attempt to extinguish it. Trust is the implementing force that propels us into the blackness of uncertainty with the assurance that the Father is near, and where He is, light can once again be found.
In our current season of life, hope is an intangible commodity I must replenish my storehouse with every day. Hope for our family’s health, a future home of our own again, our finances, and hope that all of our efforts will bear fruit in due time. It can be a weary walk, but it’s worth the good fight. For with trust in our Savior comes a hope that is never mislaid and never ending. Indeed, in these perilous times we face as a fallen world, we all need a source of hope that is consistent and easily found.
A source of hope that is never lost.