Sometimes I ask the Lord for a word for my life for the new year. Some years ago, it was, “thanksgiving.” So, for several months I was intentional about making thanksgiving a big part of my life.
Another time the word was, “trust.”
I wanted to reuse “thanksgiving” for 2018 but the word, “hope,” kept intruding. So “hope” it is for 2018.
We’ve downgraded “hope.” A friend who loves the outdoors says, “I hope I catch some fish today.” But, there’s always a question. I’ve come home from a lot of “hope so” fishing trips muttering to myself, smelling more of fish bait than fish.
But the hope that comes from God is a direct result of faith. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for.” You can’t have one without the other.
When I’ve got hope, I do my best. It pulls me forward. When hope flees, all color washes out of my life and I go through the motions.
One day I was visiting a mental hospital in Luxembourg. As I talked with my friend and saw observed other patients, I realized that there was probably less hope per square inch in that place, than anywhere else in the country.
Something snaps when we lose hope.
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