Hopes and prayers do not always come so easily when the resolution isn’t apparent or when it seems as if nothing is happening. More times than not, the reality is that life is not always a neat little package tied up with a bow. Sometimes those I care about face dire circumstances. Sometimes those I love most in the world hurt me and my family or in my own frailty and weakness I hurt them. In these moments, hope is easily replaced with disillusionment and fear that love will not prevail. My faith and hope are shaken and instead I see God as missing from the situation and feel angry that it seems some part of who I am has been taken away.
It is in these times when all seems lost that I realize that God’s time and plan don’t always coincide with my own hopes, prayers, and longings. The awareness that hope is truly a gift from God then replaces my doubt. And God is there. The place where hope resides is deep in the heart, the center of our beings, where God ‘s Holy Spirit can fill the space that is our soul.
Hope gives me the freedom to love and to forgive. Hope provides the basis for my prayers, every day, every hour, I need it and it is as much a part of who I am as the color of my eyes. Hope saves me from myself and the impatience that comes from my own fear of a lack of control. I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things seen and unseen…….and hope gives me the basis for my faith.
“Hope” is the thing with feathers -
that perches in the soul –
And sings the tune without the words –
and never stops – at all
(Author: Emily Dickinson)
I hope and pray this Advent season, as we await the birth of Our Savior, Jesus Christ, that each and every person in this world may always believe in this unseen, never-ending gift that sings in the soul, and that the singing never stops – at all. Patricia Leonard
Patricia Leonard