Candle of Hope

We lit the candle of hope this morning as we begin Advent, leading up to Christmas.

Hope is tricky. It can be a slippery thing to hold onto. You want to have hope, but it can feel too brazen, too bold, too presumptuous. I want to hope for my child to learn to read, to drive a car, to make true friends, but what if he doesn’t? What if God’s loving plan for him is different?

I often stand at that threshold, and look through the doorway and wonder what is on the other side. I have often wondered if our hard work in preparing our son for the “real world” will make us look silly if he never moves out to live independently. If our hard work in discipling him will disappoint us if we are operating outside of the scope of his understanding. These fears are heavy and real, but they are not Biblical.

“Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us” Romans 5:3-5.

I do not have complete confidence in what our boy’s future on this earth will look like, but I am offered complete confidence in what our boy’s future can look like in Christ Jesus - and that future is for all eternity.

The safest place to lay your hope is in the scarred hands of Jesus.

If it is what is best for you or your child, those hopes will come to pass. If His best for your child lies outside of what you have hoped for, take comfort in knowing that your hope was not in vain. It will not be put to shame. With Jesus, nothing is wasted. He longs to know the hopes of our heart, even if they are not realized in this life. Our redemption, our lives, hopes, and relationships, will only be fully realized on the other side of Glory. With the One making all things new, forever.

This makes an excellent anchor for raising our children; one based on hope rather than fear. We can hold out the Word of God to them with the expectant joy that all His promises to us, to our children, are Yes and Amen” in Jesus.

(Excerpt from a project I’ve been working on ☺️)