Unshackled Moments ~ December 4, 2018 ~ Hope For The Holidays

It is the first week of Advent and hope is the theme, so I have been thinking about hope. I used to hate hope. I felt afraid of it. I wanted nothing more to do with it. Hope deferred makes the heart sick, and I knew the truth of that statement from experience. But then I learned the difference between hoping and having hope.

Hope, as we most often use it, is a desire or expectation for a particular thing to happen, usually in a particular time and or way, that is not based on  reliability or confidence but is really more of a wish. I hope everyone is kind and compassionate this Christmas season and beyond. I used to hope things such as hoping I would get out of this or that mess I'd created unscathed. If I ever bought a lottery ticket I am sure that I would  hope to win. After all, if you don't hope to win, what's the point in buying the ticket?

I have hope that my parents are giving me a Christmas present this year. This is not simply a wish, and it is not based simply on desire. I don't have a wish but a confident expectation. I haven't received a gift yet this year, so I haven't felt it, experienced it or known it in a concrete way, but I  am sure. It's strange to think of hope as surety, but that's one of the ways we can look at hope. This hope for a present is based on knowing who my mother is and what she has gone through over the years to not only give me gifts at Christmas but to make sure I get at least one thing I desire. It's based on over 40 years of receiving presents at Christmas. It's based on the fact that Mom has asked for and received a wish list from me.

This situation is a combination of the two different views of hope. There are things on the list I gave my Mom that I hope for more than others. I don't know which item from the list she'll choose. She may see something she thinks would be even better and choose to go off list. But while I have varying levels of desire for things I put on the list, I have a confident expectation that I will receive something and that it will be something that my parents give me out of love and care for me.

When it comes to hope in God, it's not about wishing or desiring something that may or may not happen. It is a confident expectation based on who Daddy is and what has happened faithfully in the past that He is going to be true to His nature and do what He has said He will do. It is a surety that He is good and will do what is best for me and our relationship. It is the assurance that because Jesus came, no matter what else happens, the need in my life will be met and the longing in the core of my spirit will be satisfied and life will be abundant and worth living. This is a hope that comes from trusting a faithful Father and will never be deferred or lead to disappointment or devastation.

There may not be as much peace on earth, or even in our homes , as we would hope for this Christmas. We may not get everything we want, and the food may not be a fairy tale feast. It may not be white on December 25th (that would be a true miracle where I live). We may hope for many things this season that may or may not happen, but we have one hope that will not fail. We can know that Daddy loves us as we are and not as we should be, and we can have a confident expectation that He will continue to do so. Because He loved us enough to wrap Jesus in flesh so that He could do for us what we could never do for ourselves, we can hope that He will finish what He started and make something beautiful out of the ashes of our lives and give us a life worth living.


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