Hope in the Everyday

 Lord Jesus--Hope in my everyday world is something that seems in short supply of right now. The things that I thought were secure seem shaken not just stirred.

It may have started out with the fall of the twin towers, or maybe they were an iconic moment that summed up what was already a part of our world. It has continued with an ecomonic dislocation which has found me wondering about the future. Wall Street which seemed rock solid was seen for what it is at it's worst: greedy and selling what doesn't really exist.

When I do a simple word search for hope in your word 135 references come up...

Lord Jesus, of all the places that I could start to do a study of hope...this passage is the one that I have memorized. It feels like home to me.

Romans 5
  Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.

Lord Jesus--There is reason to be hopeful, because I have a peace with the Father that rests on what you have already done. This is just the start of great things. I stand in a place of grace...wherever my feet are resting, grace brought me there.  There is reason for celebration whatever the weather or the location, wherever the arc of your grace leads.  There is also the enduring hope that the course of my life will bring me to the time and the place where your glory will be revealed...right here on planet Earth as it is in heaven.

3And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; 4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; 5and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

So as I sit here thinking about funny hats and wondering about the future, you remind me that Jesus followers always land on their feet.  Might I just say, that it doesn't always feel that way?

Celebrate in the middle of hard times? Why on earth would I want to do that? Because your grace wants to find expression in my life?  In the silly hat, times?...in the I am picking myself up off my back side again...kind of times?

Hope, more than anything, is a process that is experienced over time and in the multi-leveled situations of life in the everyday.  Perseverance...patience can only be learned over time in the middle of the mix of real life.  Patience leads to proven character that knows how to endure through the times when I feel like I have a silly hat on in the corner.

In the middle of it, hope grows.  Hope grows even during a time when it is not rational for there to be hope.  Why? It is so simple that it hardly needs to be said if you have experienced it.  The Holy Spirit is so present that there can be no doubt God is at work.

Lord Jesus--In this day that has already started, let me be a refection of your hope...hope in the everyday, hope in the middle of the mix, hope that is real, relational, and relevant to a world that is hurting.