Hope swings on

A few weeks ago, I happened to catch a few minutes of a television show.  Shocking, I know.  The topic discussed unconventional medicine to cure cancer.  The conventional physicians accused this other doctor of selling hope.

Selling hope?  Hope for sale?  Nonetheless, it made me think about our own experience.

Hope is powerful, but it’s also free.  Sometimes just the word itself can bring about feelings that things will get better; you can take it for one more day.

Last Christmas (2009), Corbin came home proudly from preschool with a gift for me and for Danny.  We had no idea what kind of gift Corbin would pick out for us when left to his own devices.

When I opened my gift on Christmas morning, I got a big lump in my throat and tears found themselves in my eyes.

Corbin gave me a decorative cross with the word HOPE across it.

He could not grasp what that meant and still means to me.  God used my child to get me through another day and another day and another day.

That cross now hangs in my kitchen and serves as a daily reminder.

Another gentle reminder, right?

Hope has gotten me through this entire journey.  Without it, faith and love just don’t work.  You can’t have one without the others.

Do I feel hopeless sometimes?  Sure.  Who doesn’t?  But the Word tells me a lot of things about hope.

“But hope that is seen is no hope at all.  Who hopes for what they already have?  But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.”  Romans 8:24-25

“Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.  And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Romans 5:3-5

“There is surely a future hope for you, and our hope will not be cut off.” Proverbs 23:18

I have no idea what God is doing.  I never thought I’d find myself here.  It is a lonely place.  I married a man who took care of me and now he cannot.  We have a beautiful son who cannot take care of himself and shouldn’t have to.  I didn’t want this journey.  I certainly wouldn’t have asked for it.  But, as Christians, do we really think we should be free of affliction?  We’re only kidding ourselves if we think being a Believer is the easy way out.  Don’t you remember the path less taken?  There are those who are suffering in His name and in much more difficult situations.

I’m learning to “embrace the mysteries of God,” as my good friend SB says.  So, I cling to hope. I cling to the HOPE on that Cross and every time I open or close that kitchen cabinet door, it swings in my face like a bright neon light.

Hope.  It’s free.

Tomorrow will be better or at least bearable.