When hope takes flight
“Hope” is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops
At all
~ Emily Dickinson
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord. “….plans to give you hope and a future….you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me….”
~ Jeremiah 29:11-13
Hope.
The thing with feathers.
An anchor for the soul that gives wings to the heart.
Many times this year it has felt like hope took those wings and flew away. This year has cost so much and there have been many times I have wanted to give up hope. We all have; I know I’m not alone in this. From January all the way through to December there have been many good things, but they have been heavily overshadowed by the hard, the dark, the hopeless. Our family, like many families, has faced its share of challenges. And I won’t lie – I feel shallow saying our life is difficult as you sit on the other side of the screen reading a blog about our journey restoring a small castle. In pictures, our life looks pretty magical. But there is life lived behind the scenes that is often messy and indescribably hard. And if we could sit over coffee and I could tell you some of the things that have lived in the shadows of our lives this year, life would not look so much like a fairy tale anymore.
Yesterday I tasted hope again. It was light and beautiful, and I felt restoration coming. And this morning, the devil snuck in and stole it all away. So here I sit with coffee, good music, and my laptop, chasing hope once more. And I know the devil doesn’t get the last word, but sometimes God feels very silent.
So I lean on the faith of others when I feel weak. I go to the words of poets and songwriters and authors who have walked their own paths of suffering to earn the right to speak to our pain. And maybe these words are what you need to hear right now as well…
Know this: God is faithful, and He is in the business of turning things upside down and doing the impossible. Know that you are sought, know that you are pursued, know that through Him you can be saved – not because of anything you’ve done to deserve Him, but because of who He is.
~ She Reads Truth Advent study
The devil lurks in our lives seeking to steal, kill, and destroy us and anything good in our lives. He wants us to doubt God’s power and diminish the truth Jesus brought to us through His life, death, and resurrection. The devil wants us to stay focused on our present worries, temporal struggles, and the crippling fears that distract us from God’s kingdom.
~ She Reads Truth Advent study
Every little thing is going to be okay because God is working good through every little thing.
~ Ann Voskamp, The Greatest Gift
Joy is a function of gratitude and gratitude is a function of perspective. You only begin to change your life when you change the way you see.
~ Ann Voskamp, The Greatest Gift
What if the world doesn’t end when the fears come true?
What if we have what we need to make it through?
There is manna from heaven, and mercies new.
What if God is still here in this desert too?
~ JJ Heller, God is Still Here
Christmas is a season associated with hope. So many around us were putting up lights and decorations in October, trying to find something to hope for in this dark, heavy year. But the lights don’t bring hope. The gifts don’t bring hope. A new house, new car, new job, new relationship – they don’t bring hope. Hope comes from somewhere deeper, from an eternal source. And I’ve walked with God long enough to know that hope still lives, even in the shadows, and hope will return in time. And there is purpose in the pain of this year, purpose we may not know this side of heaven.
But I will have hope. Because hope is a Person, not a feeling, and this hope stays, even when all feels lost. This hope is mysterious, but this hope is good. This hope is why Christmas exists and why we celebrate, even when the world feels dark; especially when the world feels dark. May you also find hope this year.
