HOPE

Hope always shows up when we are about to fall by the wayside. Hang in there!

There’s this timeless story you probably have heard, especially if you grew up around people who were positive about life. It is a tale of hope, brought out in the simplest of ways any child could grasp. It pictures four candles: I want to believe that among them was that of faith of hope and love. They live well together (talk of stories giving life to lifeless things haha), burning so brightly and then things turn sour and they go out, save for the candle of hope which continues till the end. What I like about the story is that this lucky candle thinks it wise to light up the rest: which it does. Lovely! Isn’t it? Now it feels like I’m narrating to some Sunday school kids sited in front of me with their legs crossed, anxious. Trust me, it feels good.

Hope is simply optimism. A clear cut confidence that things will work out somehow. It constitutes an expectation that cannot be clouded by the current state of affairs. It can be explained as a hidden courage and an unspoken assertion that a shining will come through however miserable a situation looks.

It matters not that there’s no one to help you into the pool when the water is stirred. That after having gone through hell for years you cannot help but watch as opportunities fly by you. Jesus came through for the man who lay sick on his mat for thirty eight years (John 5:1-9). The cruelty of life serves to choke our enthusiasm time and again. But it doesn’t have to end there. Most award winning novels begin with conflicts that seem impossible to solve. Likewise, the best songs we hear today were written from a broken heart, a difficult situation or a non-functional marriage. Despite the pit you are in today, hope is simply saying that you can be the best version of the story.

We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

We were once far away, according to the book of Ephesians, cut out from the covenants promise. Without a name, we lived hopeless lives without someone to save us. Jesus’ coming was like a springing of hope. The kind that looks at our imperfection and sees the good we can become. This Jesus is the hope of all glory: a mystery that has been revealed to us. Because of him we have the assurance of things we would never deserve in a million years. The barren woman can now burst into song, and the one who was never in labor shout for joy. More are the children of the desolate woman than those of the married. Isn’t it good to know that afflicted cities lashed by storms will now boast of beautiful buildings: stones of turquoise, battlements of rubies and more?

Always look out for the candle of hope that shines brightest lighting up other candles long after they have gone out. Light a candle today.

The lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will shout for joy. For waters will break forth in the wilderness and streams in the Arabah.

Isaiah 36:6