1/17/22 1/17/22

Blog Why we must nourish hope

A new year always brings a sense of newness and hope. We let the old year go, sometimes with regret, lately more with relief. Surely the new year will be better, safer, and more back to normal. Of course, that’s what we were told about 2021. And yet, hope still rises for a future better than the past couple of years.

We have hope because that capacity is built not in our culture or race, but within the very fabric of our DNA. A farmer may plant a crop looking for a harvest due to years of farming and experience. But however many years of experience a farmer may have, farming carries risk.

It is hope that makes a difference, providing the farmer the edge that there will be a harvest and it will be good. Hope is a large component of almost every endeavor from investments and inventions to personal relationships.

Marriage begins with love, faith that the relationship will last, and hope that it will. When we do something to hurt someone, when we apologize we do so with the hope a relationship can be restored. What is interesting about hope is that it is often dashed in light of reality, and yet, we move forward with an element of hope.

Orbison Sweet Marsden said, “There is no medicine like hope. No incentive so great, and no tonic so powerful as expectation of something better tomorrow.

Hope may not seem all that important until it is gone, leaving only darkness and the belief that life is no longer worth living. Losing hope means losing everything. Losing hope leads to depression, anger and even quitting to the point of taking one’s life.

This is why we need to nourish hope in ourselves and others, especially our children. It is filling our minds with life-affirming words, pictures, and other media. It is lifting up through encouragement--a letter, a phone call, an email, or even a text can make a difference in someone else’s life.

Only a short time into the new year and our resolutions are most likely broken. We wonder why we bothered to make them. But broken resolutions can become the foundation for hope and a better tomorrow--regardless of our circumstances.

Life will never be all roses and sunshine. Bad days, weeks happen. There are illnesses, cancer, and death. Tragedies happen. Hope is the difference between wallowing in the hurt and pain and allowing time to grieve, but still moving forward with faith and hope.

John Greenleaf Whittier wrote, “Behind the cloud the starlight lurks,
Through showers the sunbeams fall,
For God, who loveth all His works,
Has left His hope for all.

In this new year, let us choose to always keep hope alive.

Faith will help us get there.

8/11/20 8/11/20

Poetry He Gave Me Hope

He gave me hope
When darkness clouded mind and soul
When pain beyond reason
Clutched and tore the fabric of my insular world
Left me bleeding from every
Physical and emotional pore.

He offered life
When my own ebbed and I
Wished only for the end
Yet, I clung to that nameless something
Implanted deep within
This cannot be all there is!

His gentle voice called, comforted, cared
Even in my rebellion,
Even in my indifference,
Even in my anger
He showed me sacrifice
Someone even dared to die—for me!

Love held Jesus to that cross
God became man—lived, died.
Rose again—for me, for my pain
For my anguished cries
Of heart and soul and mind.

Jesus offered forgiveness, life, hope
He stretched out His hand
My choice. And I, in dread anticipation,
Clasped His palm--Found Him.

Thou art my hiding place and my shield: I hope in thy word. —Psalm 119:114 KJV

8/9/20 8/9/20

Poetry Loving Lord, Living Faith

Because He lives...Christ Jesus gives
me love and life
hope and peace
not only for today
and tomorrow, but also,
for all eternity.

5/13/20 5/13/20

Devotion Giving Up Control?

God’s path to His blessing isn’t a blanket “It’s Ok.” He requires each of us to come and acknowledge His Lordship. It is letting go and letting Him take control of our lives, something most of us find very difficult to do.

Jesus isn’t simply a “Get out of trouble card,” when we goof up. Sin isn’t a popular word, but it is the definition of what we do when we make choices that harm ourselves and/or others. Do we lie, cheat, steal, even in minor ways? Do we hurt others with our words, assumptions, innuendoes, and gossip?

Do we go our way, shutting God out of our lives, maybe even, while claiming to follow Him? He is our creator, Lord, and Savior. He is so much more than we want to accept. But, until we do so, we remain outside His comfort, protection and peace.

Am I willing to let go, give Him access to clean me up from the inside out, and to follow Him wherever He leads? Do I truly know Him, His will, His way? Am I ready to deepen my relationship with Him through regular communication and by studying His Word?

Until I am, how can I claim to either know or follow Him? Yet, He is still here, waiting for you and me to ask, to bow, allow Him in to forgive and set free.

1 John 1:9 (ESV) If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

4/6/20 4/6/20

Blog Liar, lunatic or Lord

Easter eggs proclaim new birth, spring heralds a new beginning, but what we all need is not just a celebration, but hope. Easter is about hope, about truth, about love—about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the embodiment of hope, of truth, and most of all of love.

The story is simple yet profound. Because we as God’s creation keep making a mess of our lives, often determined to “do out own thing” even when it leaves us empty and unfulfilled, God made a way for us to have a new beginning.

When the time was right, he sent his son Jesus into the world as a baby—this is Christmas—to experience everything we experience. There was one difference, unlike the rest of us, Jesus chose to always do those things that were good and right. He shared a message of hope, love and forgiveness. He healed the sick, even raised the dead, showing that He was exactly who he proclaimed he was—God.

That was too much for certain leaders in his day. They demanded Jesus’ death, a death that had been foretold hundreds of years earlier. Jesus’ birth, life, death and resurrection fulfilled so many prophecies; the odds that anyone could have faked the fulfillment are astronomical.

Many believe Jesus is a good man, but not God. Yet, we have three options. Either he was a liar, a lunatic or, exactly what he claimed, Lord. A good man would not try to deceive people by saying, “"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6 NIV That would make him a liar.

He could have been a lunatic, except his message was simple and clear. He said he had the answer to people’s need for acceptance, forgiveness and hope. He died for his belief. If he deceived himself as well as others, he was tragic, but certainly not worthy of our admiration.

If he was neither a lunatic nor a liar, we have one choice. Jesus was who he said he was, God. We’ve all done those things for which we’re ashamed and for which we deserve punishment. Because he had done no wrong, Jesus was able to do what no one else could do, take on himself the punishment we deserve for the wrongs we’ve done. He died for our wrongs, but more, he rose again, conquering death and hell and sin. Because he lives Jesus can offer us hope. All we need do is to recognize we can’t make it on our own and accept his offer of forgiveness, a new start, a new life with Christ as our friend, our savior, our guide.

Jesus said it best. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Matthew 11:28-29

May you come to know and follow Jesus this Easter.

I plan my life out a day at a time, so my posting schedule can be erratic.

Sign up for my newsletter and you’ll never miss a post.