During these last eight months I’ve spent some time thinking about hope. Maybe this is a difficult time to be hopeful. Our days are growing shorter and darker and we know the darkest days yet to come. And although Calgary has its share of warm Chinook winds, it’s cold today and we know it will get colder. And although there is promising news about vaccines to combat COVID, we know it will be several more months before we see real change.
As I prepared this meditation I looked up famous quotations about hope and I was surprised to discover they weren’t all inspirational. Some famous sayings about hope were written by cynics, by people who did not believe in hope. I don’t know how a human being can survive without hope. When you’re hopeless, every day must be dark, every environment cold and every illness incurable.
But we come from a tradition steeped in hope. The prophets of the Old Testament lived in times of weak or corrupt leaders, civilization on the verge of collapse and worst of all, people turning their hearts from God. But the prophets boldly foretold the coming of a Messiah who would make things right. This hope was carried from prophet to prophet like a relay race until finally John the Baptist saw the beginning of Christ’s mission on Earth. Those prophets put their hope in God and God never fails.
And we today are not unlike the people awaiting their Messiah, for we are anticipating when Christ will come again. So I have hope. I hope that darkness will pass into light, cold thaw into warmth, sickness will yield to healing and hearts reconciled to God.
No shadow comes without the light making a way; no raging storm can ever defy one word of faith; my heart remains sure in the wind sure in the waves.
No comments:
Post a Comment