Just some early morning thoughts from me to you…
“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God…
…And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.
Romans 5: 1-2, 5 (NIV)
A needed reminder.
You know that feeling you have in that first instant each morning—almost every day of your life—before your mind starts down the list of the busyness and concerns of the day.
Hope! Right?
It’s true. Think about it for a moment. In that first moment when your eyes slowly pop open.
Hope! It’s there!
A moment where you sense a burst of excitement and anticipation. That instant which sees the day ahead, as a day full of possibilities. That first sunshine moment when you believe that all that you want to happen—actually will happen.
Hope!
And it lies within us. It often gets covered with the concerns of the day, or the remembrance of times we’ve fallen short, or an insecurity formed within us by people from the past who didn’t nurture us, or see the potential God created within your life or mine.
But it’s always there. Hope. The hope of the risen Christ for all who believe. The hope of the Holy Spirit within us—ready to guide and see us through whatever obstacles have been lined up in our day.
It’s what gets us through those days we can’t get through. Hope!
It’s what fights the illnesses we can’t fight. Hope!
It’s what causes us to get up one more time when we fall. Hope!
It’s knowing that the sun will shine after the rain. Hope!
It’s the smile of a dear friend I saw in the grocery store as she sported a new baseball cap covering the hair loss from a new round of chemotherapy to attack the reemergence of cancer.
Hope!
It’s what I saw and felt everyday last year in the smile of my bride as she and I headed each day to another treatment for her cancer.
Hope!
We are lifted by hope on the hand of God, loved with hope by the heart of God, warmed by hope on the breath of God, guided by hope by the gentle whisper of God, and encouraged by hope through the constant presence and love of God.
Hope!
It’s everywhere around us, and it is always within us.
It’s a reminder to us that no matter what we go through, no matter where we find ourselves in life, no matter what we face, no matter the heartache, illness or disappointment we experience, no matter the changes which occur—nothing of significant, eternal importance has changed or will ever change.
God is still and always will be on the throne.
Hope!
Now and forever and for all eternity!
Claim it! Hope!
In His Name–Scott
