A Week of Hope {wonder-full wanderings}

Week one of the beautiful advent season… One candle lit on the advent wreath… The hope candle.

  
The flame dances small but mighty both on the wreath and in our souls.  I don’t believe it’s coincidence that everywhere I turn it seems the ‘word of the week’ appears.

All through the pages of God’s Word:

“Be strong and take heart all you who hope in the Lord.” – Psalm 31:24

“I wait for the Lord, my souls does wait, and in His word do I hope.” – Psalm 130:5

“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace and believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” – Romans 15:13 

On the kitchen wall:

  
In a book I recently picked up:

“And hope happens here at this nexus of bitter and sweet. I will not talk myself out of hope, hiding behind Scripture to support all my reasons for being ‘wise’ and ‘measured’ in my responses to the not-yets in my life. Because when I choose to engage in that awkward intimacy of believing that He might say no while asking expectantly that He say yes, He gets the most beautiful part of me. 

Hope is my precious oil, mingling with tears to wash His feet.

Hope, and the vulnerability it brings, is what moves His heart.

Hope, and how it draws me to Him, means not one of those minutes curled up in pain was lost, not one of those minutes of closeness with Him is forgotten… I can discover that our greatest testimony isn’t found in those moments of victory over weakness or even in the moments of hope fulfilled. It’s found in waiting, wanting, adoring.” – Sara Hagerty

And isn’t that what this season is all about anyway… The waiting, the wanting, the adoring? 

This hope is a daring thing, because “who hopes for what we already have“?  And yet as Christians, that’s exactly what we do.  We live in the “already” and the “not yet” all at the same time.  

We have the promise: He WILL come again!  

We have the inheritance: life forever in heavenly bliss.

We know the end of the story: He wins! We win! 

Yet we still live in this painful, war-torn, desperate world, hanging on desperately to hope.  But as the advent season continues on to an advent week 2 adventure of peace, the hope flame stays lit too.  May it be true in our hearts as well. 

“Hold onto hope. Hold onto hope. Even those closest to you will challenge it, as the world around you collapses, but hope is your greatest weapon because it is an invitation into the Unseen.  … One day, the Unseen will be more real to you than what your eyes can perceive.” – Sarah Hagerty