Word: Hope

I wrote this Sunday afternoon and I've been thinking about it all week. I didn't necessarily intend to have a "word" for the year, but you'll see why I'm choosing Hope this year as you keep reading.

I'm not sure I could tell you what the sermon was really about this morning (Changing Seasons), partly because I had Hope sitting on my lap, partly because I was just distracted.

But one little thing caught my attention.  At some point the pastor said that those who commit suicide have given up hope that anything will ever change. And it's truly sad because things are always changing and there is always hope that it can get better.

I'm not sure this was what he intended for anyone to get out of his message, or maybe it was, but I got it.

I needed that message.  This past year has been incredibly hard for me in almost every way.  I have given up a lot of hope.  I have hoped for things for years and not seemed to be able to see anything different.  This year it all seemed to come down on me.

One other thing today, an email message from a blogger collective that spoke about how waiting is never pointless.  In the waiting, even if you can't see it, things are changing and moving, hopefully that you will be able to see when looking back, but maybe that we will never see this side of eternity.

So this year I'm going to take Hope.  Hope as a verb rather than a noun.  As an action of believing rather than something to passively receive.  I will have hope.

I also find it highly ironic that Hope was sitting in my lap through all of this.  She doesn't normally go to church with us, but today did not want to stay in the nursery and she's actually pretty good about sitting quietly with me.

The graphic above I created with my scrapbooking supplies.  The letters aren't straight and it's bugging me a little bit, but by the time I realized it the glue was good and stuck.  Maybe that's okay.  It's not perfect and maybe hope isn't perfect either.  Goodness knows I certainly am not! 

I plan to put this in a visible spot for me and maybe that will be just one more little reminder that even when things don't turn out right, at all, that there is still Hope.

Do you have a word for the year?