Day 5 • The Week of Hope

Scripture Readings:
Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13
Hosea 6:1-6
1 Thessalonians 1:2-10

I had always wanted to fall in love. Find someone to spend the rest of my life with. Be a husband. Be a dad. I grew up hearing that God gave me these desires and would help me along the way to fulfill them. I was told that, most likely, I would meet someone at college, and we would start our lives together. I had so much confidence in that belief. I was so excited for the future.

Then life happened. I graduated high school. Then, I graduated college. Then, I graduated from seminary. I hadn’t found forever with someone yet, and I had endured a lot of heartbreak along the way. As I stepped into pastor my first church, I was still hopeful but just less convinced that it would ever happen.

Then, as the years went by, as I entered my thirties, as I endured more heartbreak, more loneliness, and as the dating pool got smaller and more complicated to navigate as a pastor, I really began to wonder if I should just let go of this desire entirely. I still desired it with all of my being, yet holding onto that desire was hurting me more than anything else. The lack of fulfillment was truly making my heart break. I didn’t want to let go of hope, yet I it was just too painful to hold onto it anymore. It felt like a choice between two different kinds of pain.

Then, without warning, like the sun unexpectedly gently breaking through the clouds, I met Rebecca. After learning about each other’s lives, the kind of people we were in our past, and all that led us to be the kind of people we were when we met, we quickly discovered that we found each other at just the right time. My hope was fulfilled so unexpectedly, even after I had all but given up.

That is really the theme in our scripture readings for today. Unexpected rescue. Faithfulness in spite of circumstances. Unbridled joy from hope is being fulfilled. Even though the journey along the way has injured us and even torn our hearts to pieces, we are somehow healed and even more ready to receive what we have hoped for than we were before (Hosea 6:1; 1 Thes 1:2-3;).

I think that is part of the mystery of hope, especially our hope for God to arrive in our world. We are not only changed by our hope being fulfilled; we are transformed by the act of hoping itself. Looking back, every moment I spent hoping for God to fulfill the desire for love in my life was a moment God was able to use to make me more capable of the love I was hoping for. I have to believe that the same is true for all that we hope for in this world. For suffering to cease. For violence to be dismantled. For hunger to end. For justice to be given. For the flourishing of all creation. For all that is promised by God through Jesus coming to earth. I have to believe that as we hope for these things to be fulfilled, we are made more capable of receiving them in our striving for them. Hope is such a vital thing to keep alive.

Reflection Steps:

I invite you to take a few moments today to look back over your life at times when you had your hopes fulfilled. Pay special attention to how that happened. Notice the kind of person you were when you first began to hope for those specific things. Then, notice the kind of person you were once those hopes were fulfilled. What differences do you see? What about these differences make you thankful? How does this reflection put the things you currently hope for into perspective?