The readings for Sunday are available here.
Hope is a powerful thing. It has the potential to change lives, offer direction in life, keep us mentally healthy, and inspire us “to move mountains.”
Yet for many of us, we are afraid to hope. I have found that when I’m able live my life from a stance of hope, it’s really a wonderful place to be! So why then, the hesitation? Perhaps it stems from what we place our hope in?
I would guess that most of us have known disappointment; hopes unfulfilled; what we expect to happen, sometimes does not. Fear and uncertainty creep in and immobilize, disturb, and knock us off our feet. It is as if we are afraid to hope, afraid of disappointment, even afraid of losing hope. Suddenly the world becomes an overwhelming place. Sort of like this year for so many people around the globe…2020 seems to have pulled the rug out from under the world’s feet!
When I find my world becoming a bit overwhelming; when my ability to trust and hope seem to be out of reach, and fear and worry far too close…I look to those small signs of hope that continue pulsing even in the midst of darkness. That which inspires a renewal of trust and hope, can be found in what some would call ‘the least likely of places.’ For me, this can be those people who’s lives intersect with mine, who bring their burdens, their despair and sadness, their inability to ‘fit in’ for any number of reasons…and yet, are able somehow, to find glimmers of hope that sustain and nourish them. How is this possible?
Perhaps the answer to this mystery, is found wherein their hope lies. Not in a miracle cure from all that ails, but rather, hope lies in the blessed ability to recognize the presence of God in the midst of it all. Hope is born from the ability to recognize the presence of God who abides in, and around, and with us. Trusting in God’s promise to always be with us. I pray that we seek out this kind of hope, and never let go. That we allow ourselves to be surprised by God, and to trust in God’s steadfast promise to never abandon us.
And in the meantime?….let’s keep our eyes and our hearts open, hopeful that we will find the Holy One, present in the midst of it all.
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing,So that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Romans 15:13
