Happy Monday. How is your anchor? Many today feel that their lives are shaking and are unstable with so much bad news in the media and in their own personal lives.
Discouragement can begin to overwhelm to the point of despair or loss of hope, which is the anchor of our souls according to the writer of Hebrews.
Where can we find hope? As I strolled through the cosmetic section of my favorite department store recently, I was taken aback by a moisture cream called “Hope in a Jar.” All kinds of claims are given on why this product will turn back the clock. I am not questioning them because I have not tried it, but I asked myself, “Hope—in a jar?”
What is hope? The dictionary says it is “a desire for something along with confidence and belief that it will happen.” Is this wishful thinking? Maybe. According to theologian G.K. Chesterton, hope is a platitude until everything seems hopeless and then, like other Christian virtues, it is unreasonable but indispensable.
It is known that we can live a certain number of days without food and even fewer without water. However, it is said that we cannot survive without hope.
Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, said, Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life. (Proverbs 13:12) Someone else has said, “Hope is nothing else but constant faith.” Faith in what? Jeremiah 17:7 says, Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. When hope fades and our anchor is not sure, we have a book of promises by our God Who cannot lie! Filling our minds with these truths makes us …abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. (Romans 15:13)
There is a story of a blind woman who described her world as being “bright.” She said it had the color of hope. This was found in the joy of living one more day, the adventure of meeting someone new, and the determination of living her best each day. What a colorful world indeed!
“Hope is like the sun, which, as we journey towards it, casts the shadow of our burden behind us.” – Samuel Smiles
I want to be anchored in hope. Don’t you?
by Beverly Hyles
From the Mondays with Beverly blog. Reprinted with permission.
