One of my favorite games to play with family and friends is called Rose, Bud, Thorn. Everyone goes around shares the best and worst part of their day, along with something they are looking forward to.
Hearing the upcoming event, the motivation, the hope for something soon to come is undoubtedly the best part. What do you look forward to?
As a child, I remember constantly dreaming of being a teenager and getting to do all the cool “teenager things” – like go to sleepovers or have a locker.
As a teenager, I look forward to breaks from school, going to college, and now, of course, getting to work in Costa Rica.
The interesting thing is; sometimes these hopes disappoint. We set expectations only to find that the real moment doesn’t quite live up to the scene we rehearsed in our head. And then, we come to the terrifying realization that we spent so much energy looking forward that we forgot to appreciate the present.
God wants us to know a holy kind of hope.
When the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us, I believe we become partakers not only in grace but in a certain persistent hope. Together, we serve a God who defeated the grave, gave sight to the blind, and fed thousands of people with basically a Lunchable.
If you’re like me and you grew up hearing these stories often, sometimes these literal miracles can lose their sparkle. We think these great acts were reserved only for the biblical period, the peak of spirituality during Jesus’s reign here on earth. That, or we simply don’t believe the “fairy tale” of a human walking on water.
There are plenty of reasons to dismiss his power. We may feel unworthy. We may feel – in a twisted and backward way – selfish for asking for his divine being to live in us. We may feel like a downright fool asking for help from an invisible God.
Time and time again, we must confront our worries and face the truth. These disqualifications and doubts lack one thing. They are based entirely on our world; our feelings, our current situation, and our one-sided perspective.
This cannot be misinterpreted as “God doesn’t care for our feelings or our struggles.”
This must be seen as the truth:
- “The heart is deceitful above all things” – Jeremiah 17:9
- “So set your mind on the things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” – Colossians 3:2
- “He knows your going through this great wilderness” – Deuteronomy 2:7
- “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God has prepared in advance for us to do.” – Ephesians 2:10
I don’t know about you, but these verses make my tired heart sit down and take a much-needed deep breath.
It’s at the point in the semester for our class when ‘senioritis’ is at its peak. The end is so close and we have so much to look forward to; but first, we have to complete what seems like 7 tests, 16 assignments, and 8 essays in the matter of a few short weeks.
Maybe you’re at that point too. If we’re being completely honest, your stresses and mine most likely surpass a few homework assignments. Part of it may be because we’ve exhausted ourselves with dreams that didn’t quite turn out how we expected. Part of it might have to do with a prayer that we may not live to see the answer to. But all of it is because whatever the struggle, we try at some level to remain in control.
So…
We pray, “Here’s my heart, Lord. Take it and change it and make it whatever you want it to be. I surrender all my hopes and plans to you.”
We believe that we were created and adopted by a Father who knows our every hurt and has a unique purpose for us still.
We encourage others to look up and join us in praising the God who takes our failures and weaknesses and turns them into strength.
And We act in justice, mercy, and humility with our God.
My prayer for myself, my team, the people we will serve, the people we are now serving, and for you is that we would be constantly reminded that this world is not our home; that we would know our God, we would see his truth with open eyes, and we would treat one another according to his holy, higher hope.
