BRIGHTEN OUR HEARTS WITH HOPE: DECLUTTER

SUNDAY, WEEK ONE: HOPE

God’s love revealed through Jesus remains with us on this earthly journey, giving us hope amid all of life’s joys and trials. Hope is the faith that we are beloved by God, who can lighten our days, illuminate our paths, and guide us into brighter tomorrows. During this week of Hope, let’s give our heart-rooms more space and light for Hope to grow. (For simplicity, I will use the words “room” or “space” to mean our heart, soul, inner being, or spirit.)

Our first step is to clear the clutter in our room. What clutters your hope? What burdens remain in the recesses of your heart that obscure any hopeful glimmers? Does a lingering memory cast a shadow of discouragement? Do you notice a recent disappointment, an ongoing problem… or a waning faith?

Hope does abide in this room; what particular clutter keeps it from flourishing?

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Today I find that my hope-diminishing clutter is a sense of resignation or futility, especially about the larger problems of our world, the ones in which I feel helpless—and then hopeless. I long for a world of peace and goodwill for all, but my hope is hampered by practical resignation (we have struggled from the start) and by an unattainable resolution (at least in this life).

The prophet Micah helps me with this clutter, for he also wrestles in this earthly threshold between resignation and resolution.

But as for me, I will look to the Lord;
    I will wait for the God of my salvation;
    my God will hear me.
(Micah 7:7)

Micah’s words of hope actually come after his lament of grief and despair over the corruption of Judah, beginning with, “Woe is me!” Micah finds his hope, even as he waits, in God’s steadfast love and salvation. He will keep looking to God, waiting for God, trusting in God to hear him, and in doing so, he will remain faithful to his mission of forming Judah into a nation of justice and mercy–no matter the outcome.

We too, can continue our faithful work with hope as we “look to the Lord… and wait.” Because the Hope of God in Christ now remains with us–while we dwell in this earthly threshold between resignation and resolution.

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What clutter steals your hope, darkens the light of Christ? Is it time to ask God to help you break it down and take it away? God, who is steadfast love and salvation, who became incarnate to dwell among us, is present right now to hear us, hold us, help us–and to give us a roomful of hope.

Bible verse is NRSVUE, found at https://www.biblegateway.com/
(Photo by Karen)