HOPEFUL PEOPLE SING

You surprise yourself when you hear yourself singing a happy song when for days you hadn’t felt happy. Where did that come from? Your soul heard some good news. The Spirit communed with your soul, reminding it that despite disappointments, opposition and perhaps even abuse, there is One who knows every detail of your life and will bring good out of bad, beauty out of ashes. Your soul hears that things will change. It decides, almost without your awareness that the future looks bright. Hardships can be borne. Fears are not formidable. Setbacks are temporary. God, after all, is still in control. There are reasons to express gratitude. So give voice to the welling joy - and sing.

HOPE ENCOMPASSES LIFE

With your first breath you hoped.
Reflect on when you knew you began to hope. Was it your first Christmas when you had a specific toy in mind? Or was it when you reached out to make a friend? Or did it hit you when you worried about your report card. Likely it was all of those. But hope begins before we can identify what hope is. Its first sparks show in the hospital when we crave acceptance and love from mother but it saturates our thinking through every age, affects our attitude through each personal encounter, figures in every crucial decision, and encourages us through each crisis. Hope makes life tolerable through every stage and even gives us anticipation for the life to come. Do you think the measure of hope we possess is parcelled out to us at birth, or do we create our hope?

HOPE = MISSION POSSIBLE

From "No," to "Maybe." to "Yes."
“I can’t do it.” “It can’t be done.” These sentiments we have all either thought or expressed. We say we can’t stand the pain, we can’t tolerate the ridicule, we can’t take the pressure, we can’t possibly do a task which is the only solution to a problem, we can’t apologize to our nemesis. Yet somewhere in the hidden reaches of our soul, a quiet voice calls up and asks if the word “can’t,” might be changed to “possibly.” That's when we begin to doubt our doubts and that is when hope pulls away the darkness and lets in the light of the possible. We begin to explore how it might be possible and think of different ways we might try to make it happen.

HOPE - A GIFT OR A DETERMINATION

Let's face it, the concept of hope is slippery. How do we actually get hope? Is it something some people inherit or receive at the time of birth? Probably not.It’s absurd to think you can have hope when you don’t want to have it. To that extent possessing anticipation of the future must then be self-willed. Possession, though, is no more than a dream unless you purchase the item; like a car. We must will to have it. Yet, if the car had not been made, if you did not have income that pays you enough, you could not possess the car. Likewise, unless God supplied the hope for an abundant life here and a perfect life in heaven through Jesus, the possibility of hope would be hopeless. BUT. We are left to reach out and accept the gift of hope that God holds out to us. We take the initiative to get hope. So...let's get with it.

HOPE PROPELS US

Let's continue with the subject of hope. We must find a reason to keep going. The pessimist claims everything and everyone is against his success. Or he imagines the odds are all stacked against him. Yet even the most blatant cynic clasps tightly to the belief that things must get better for him, or he would terminate his life. We label this inherent desire to believe that a better way is possible as ‘ hope.’ Job, in the Old Testament, had every reason to give up: he lost possessions, children, health and friendships. In this desperate, forlorn condition, he proclaims to his former friends, now his present accusers, that he resolves to continue to cling to his hope in God, even if God should take the only thing he has left- his life. You and I decide whether or not we should keep believing things can improve. No one else does that for us.

HOPE AND 'DE TROBLS OF DE WORL'

I'm making a shift to another topic for a while. It's another common need for all of us: HOPE. We have a false notion that normal life has no downs. Not true. But when we're at the bottom, we need to hear a forecast for sun tomorrow.
“That’s living,” we hear someone say. She means when you can give vent to your appetites (they are God-given don’t forget), you’ve really lived. Or when you can shop ‘til you drop, golf 36 holes in a day, feast on a holiday until you’re forced to loosen your belt, have an entire day to yourself, indulge in a series of concerts by your favorite performer - that’s living. Really? Those are exceptions for 90% of us. Tears over a child killed by a drunk driver, anger over neglect by someone we thought loved us, deep pain from treatment for cancer, terrible disappointment over a child choosing a wayward life, grief over lost loved ones in war- all prove that life abounds in troubles. But God intends for us to have hope while in the midst of such a life. Stay tune for more sun.

LOVE DRIVES OUT FEAR

Have you noticed how fear can easily spoil a good day? It ruins joyous events, spoils happy relationships, destroys anticipated celebrations, and robs us of peace. Sadly, this destructive emotion has a wild nature, being tough to control. It centers in wanting to remain safe. Fear presents itself as a guard against possible danger. Still, controlling it lies within each of us when we step into a new outlook: love. “Perfect love casts out fear.” Allow authentic care and concern for the person to overshadow fear. Love melts our hyper sensitivities and apprehensions. But fears will crowd back in when we insist on protecting ourselves. And when it is circumstances we fear, our love for our Almighty Father who holds the whole world in His hand, dissolves our fear. Love gives us wonderful freedom.