By Hannah Sweet
Hope.
It is one little word that can mean so many things to so many people. It’s the thing we cling to that will lift one out of the darkest of times. Hope can come in all forms. Yet as far back as anyone can remember there has always been hope in its most basic and abstract of forms. It is defined as a feeling of trust. As Christians, this definition of hope is the birth place of our faith. We all share this innate feeling of trust in the Lord.
It may just be me, but at this particular time of the year I find that that hope is just a little bit stronger than normal. I find that as the lights are brighter and everyone is filled with the holiday spirit, my hopes for everything in general are brighter and harder to quell. This is a little embarrassing to admit, but perhaps this is how it’s supposed to be. Think on the words of Proverbs 6:19:
Hope anchors the soul.
That’s exactly why I think we feel more hope this time of year than perhaps any other. It anchors our souls to the real meanings of life, and what is truly important to stay balanced all year long. No, I don’t mean that I fill up on hope at Christmas time and then forget about it all year long; what I do mean is this, we get an overflow of hope at Christmas. It reminds us that God is King, willing to sacrifice everything for us. It reminds us that not everyone has what we have. The hope we overflow with at this time of year is meant to carry us forward through the year to each new point of hope you come in contact with to fill you back up. Those points of hope can be anything from holding the door for someone else, to volunteering your time. They could even be smaller things like sunlight through a window that warms your skin. Hope is what you make it. Just don’t lose it, treasure your hope like you would a dear friend, for when everything else is lost, there is always hope.
Lord, thank you for the abundance of hope you have poured out to me. You have seen what is to come in my life and have given me all the hope I will need to carry me through all that will be. Thank you for being the light in the darkness, the reason that hope exists, so that my soul may be anchored to you O Lord. Amen.
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