I’m calling on hope today. When I take in the constant barrage of news, it makes me cringe. Political candidates bashing one another. Countries bashing one another. Even members of families that divide over issues and bash one another. Its all so hard to take in.
When I was younger I had a much more fiery temperament. I could yell, rant and rave with the best of them. As I’ve grown older I’ve found that kind of temperament isn’t really a reflection of the best of me. I’ve tried to moderate what I say, the temperature of my responses, and even the perspective from which I view circumstances and issues. What seems to matter most to me is peace and harmony. That’s not to say there are not times when anger, or righteous indignation, or disagreements arise. There are plenty of those times.
The writer of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 tells us…
“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.
As I’ve entered into the Fall of my life, I want so much to live in the time of peace, the time of healing, the time of laughing, the time of gathering, the time of embracing, and seeking, and keeping, and speaking, and loving. The opposite times WILL come, there’s no doubting that, but as much as I am able, I want to live on the positive side of this spectrum.
This brings me back to calling for hope. Hope is what enables all of those positive things we’ve called out. Hope for me is more than mere dreaming and wishing, its based in the knowledge and belief in God who wills peace and harmony for all creation. My hope comes from knowing God has rooted my hope in all God has done for me up to this point. No, God has not kept me from weeping, or mourning, or hurting. No, God has not kept me from disaster, or pain, or misfortune. What God has done, is to continuously whisper in my ear, “I am enough for you today.” If God is enough for me, then my hope is certainly alive and realized. Even in the midst of terrible news, horrific happenings, mean-spiritedness, I still can find peace. God assures me of that.
Whatever you may be going through today, know that God is enough for you too. Keep hoping for the peace that will come in acknowledging God is enough. Troubles and problems can’t overwhelm the hope God gives us. In that hope, peace can be found. Although the world may be in chaos, deep in our souls peace and harmony abounds.
Your companion on the Way,
Pastor Tom