Hope

"To hope is to anticipate. It is more than dreaming, however. It is possessing within ourselves an expectation that someday there will be the fulfillment of that desire. It will become a reality. Hope always looks to the future, it's always on tiptoes. It keeps us going. It makes a dismal today bearable because it promises a brighter tomorrow." - Chuck Swindoll

Growing up, and especially in highschool, my favorite word was "hope." I always thought at some point I would get that tattooed on me. But as life progressed and certain events took place, I totally forgot about it. Not just the tattoo, but the entire concept. I feel like I forgot what it was like to hope and I got caught up in just trying to get by, just trying to survive.

This has only recently occurred to me when I read about hope in a devotional. A lightbulb went off. It's like the word, along with its meaning, got buried away in me somewhere, and just recently poked its head out of the dirt. I don't think I ever made a conscious effort or decision to bury it. Life buried it.

But lately I rediscovered my love for the word. And I'm trying to get a grip on what it really means to embrace it. Sometimes it seems foolish to embrace it. When I was 18 I discovered the verse "Hope deferred makes the heart sick." And that made a lot of sense to me at the time.

But recently I came across the following verse. And I am crazy about it, because it speaks less of our ability to hope and more of God's faithfulness, the reason for our hope.

"Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful." -Hebrews 10:23

I tend to spend a lot of time waiting for the other shoe to drop. Waiting for the rug to be snatched out from under me. But God loves me with the love of a Father, with unconditional love. When my moods swing, His promises are still true. When my hope wavers, His faithfulness stands firm. His word is his bond. He does not break promises.