On advent, on hope

When I was in university I heard God speak the work hope over me. I was interviewing for the criminology program and my interviewer asked me what I brought to the program that was unique. Without even thinking I heard myself spit out the word, “HOPE.”

It caught me off guard. So I give the credit to the Creator on that one. It has shaped me. It keeps me grounded. And it has become part of my identity.

I’ve learned somethings about hope since that moment, and on this first week of Advent I would like to share some thoughts.

Hope is not naive optimism.

Hope is not the absence of doubt, fear, or despair.

Hope is not easy.

Hope is not light and breezy.

Hope is a deep belief that all can and will be made right.

Hope is often found in our grief and despair.

Hope is hard.

Hope is heavy.

Hope is found in the dark.

Hope exists in our hopeless moments.

Hope keeps us going, moving forward.

Hope doesn’t hurry.

It dwells.

It persists.

Hope is a longing. Hope is the groaning of longing in Romans 8. And as I find myself on the first week of Advent where there is a focus on hope, it feels suiting. As we enter a season of waiting, anticipation, and expectation; As we wait for “on earth as it is in heaven,” we feel the heavy and the hard, the disappointment, the fear, and the despair of things not as they should be.

Hope is a longing for something better.

Hope is vision.

Here’s to the hope that sustains us.

And when hope feels furthest away, may you take courage in knowing you are hope.

You are hope.