Advent Week 1: Hope

HOPE.

Hope can be a fragile entity. We all have hopes and dreams that motivate and inspire us to get through today, but we have also had our hopes dashed. There is no guarantee that any of our hopes on earth will become fully realized.

• We hope for good health but sickness still comes.
• We hope for a job we enjoy that pays the bills, but the job becomes a grind or the money doesn’t come.
• We hope to live in a place that we enjoy calling home, but budgets limit what we can acquire.
• We hope people enjoy our company, and we hope to enjoy theirs, but conflict happens.
• We hope for enjoyable families but sometimes our home is not the happy place we had imagined.
• We hope to leave the world a better place than we found it but our efforts do not always produce the planned results.

These are things I hope for:

• I hope to leave behind all the seeds God grew in my heart. (Otherwise, it feels like the miracles God did in me and the things He showed me about Himself would be wasted.)
• I hope my children grow up to be fierce warriors for the Kingdom of God, (And now the list includes son-in-laws and grandchildren.)
• I hope my children are glad I was their mom. (After all, they didn’t get to pick me. They just got me.)
• I hope my husband says I was a good wife. (I think the most difficult job on earth is to be a Christian wife. I failed in marriage one and don’t want to do the same in marriage two.)
• I hope God knows He is my everything, even when I am not getting things right. (He is my everything, and He is the only reason I don’t lose it in this crazy life.)
• I hope people know how much I love them, even when I flub my expression of that love. (Since I flub daily, it frightens me to think the people I love will never know how much I loved them.)

I am crying.

Our earthly hopes — even if aligned with God’s desires — are personal, deep, and emotional.

But here’s the thing. The lists above consist of my desires, and some of yours, over which we have no control. Fact: All of our hopes will not come true. We can only hand the hopes about our earthly life to Jesus. The results belong to Him. They are not promised.

The only certain hope we have is in Christ alone.

I am not a music person. For as long as I can remember, I prefer silence over background sound. When music has words, I can’t think. But this song?

This song can be blasted at my funeral.

The version sung by Kristian Stanfill, is my favorite. The entire song is powerful, but it’s the last stanza that makes me weep as my chest hurts from deep longing. After reading the lyrics below, maybe you won’t cry like I do, but consider blasting these words through the house at least one time in honor of our only certain hope, Jesus Christ, who we celebrate this month.

In Christ alone

In Christ alone, my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone, who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save
‘Til on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied

For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again

And as He stands in victory
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me

From life’s first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
Till He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand

Enjoy the song.

In Christ Alone, sung by Kristian Stanfill, HERE.

Picture Explanation: As much as we decorate for Christmas, and as much as we attempt to capture the marvel at sunrises and sunsets, everything ends up being a shadow of the real thing. There are no way to capture the grandeur of Christ. 

At the end of the movie, Rocky, Rocky Balboa is still standing at the end of a grueling boxing match.  I want to be found standing at the end of life’s fight. Rocky is beat up and not looking so good. I suspect I will be the same, but the crowds are astounded because he is still standing.

What glory there to be found still standing in Christ alone no matter what else happens. Rocky is calling out for Adrian. I hope to be calling out for Jesus.

Speaking of living a short life with Christ as your hope: If you want to join the next online One Gritty Blink Bible study, click on the Oaks Ministries link in the copyright line. Check out the study in the One Gritty Blink tab, then send me an email in the Contact tab so I can place you on a list to be contacted for a future study! Let’s not just focus on things in this short life, but also what counts for eternity.

Note: No part of my posts are derived from A.I. Thoughts and writing stem from my mind and heart as I process life week-by-week and continue to grow in my understanding of God and how to apply His wisdom to the world around me.