Hope

Hope. Ephesians 1:18 ..."that you may know the hope to which he has called you..." What is hope? it's the expectation of good. that's it. it must be unseen though - you can't hope in something you can touch or know. that's not hope. and it has to be in the future. You can't hope for something you already have. Hope "finds its expression in endurance under trial" (vines)... It isn't until you are faced with a difficult situation that you really even need hope.
Hope is the anchor of the soul.
What are my hopes for this semester? Honestly, I just wanted to survive. I wanted to stay out of the hospital and pass my classes. Pretty lame hopes huh. My problem was where I was putting my hope - it was based in my weaknesses. It was founded in my limited capacities. That's not what hope's about. If I only allow myself to be as strong as my weaknesses, I'm limiting myself.
So... What are my strengths? I'm still working on that one. I know that they are linked with my passions - teaching, music, language, reading people and understanding how they work, authenticity, writing, ... So how do I function out of these and let God function out of my weaknesses? I've got to orient myself around the things that I'm good at...the things that I can succeed in and do well in. And I am, but I could be even more. I've got an interview for a mentoring position with at-risk teens next week - that's so me - I get that, it makes sense to me. Still not sure about the summer job working with kids in the spanish program, but that would be something I could actually do well, not just do. Working with the international grad students is something that I love as well and that I excel in, so is tutoring the student athletes at the hewitt - it's funny how passions and strengths are so related but why wouldn't they be? If you enjoy doing something, it's probably because you're good at it, and if you're good at something, chances are you'll enjoy it.
What then, is my hope? My hope is Christ. that's it. It's not about what I can and can't do - I'd be in so much trouble if it was! I've got to refocus my hope on the solid rock of Christ and eternal life. It doesn't end here - I've got to figure out a way to wrap my head around the idea that this is just a piece of it all. It will only be then that I will be able to let my hope anchor my life. Without that, I'm adrift in every sense of the word.
And that's what trials are for. Those moments of clarity that you get when suddenly everything makes sense and you can pick out what's important and what really doesn't matter. Trials let you step back and look at your own life in slo-mo, they let you pull your head out of the everyday mundane and grab hold of the real essence of life.
Hope makes all the craziness of this world not such a big deal because I know that I know that I know that there's more to it than what I'm seeing, what I'm feeling.
Hope lets you breathe when everything around you is suffocating you.
Hope helps you see the difference between the temporary and the eternal.
It is my anchor.