Advent Devotion No. 21: Leah Fischer
For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
Romans 8: 24-25
This time of year, I frequently find myself reflecting on the past while anticipating, and often unsuccessfully trying to control, what is to come. For me, this is a particularly unique year. When our world was forever changed by a pandemic, my life was simultaneously forever changed by the miracle of the birth of my newborn son. A child who my husband and I had prayed and fervently hoped for, against all odds. We found ourselves clinging to hope when we had no reasonable expectation that things would work out, as hope is the eternal siren within all of us.
Like many of you, I now find myself in a season of fear of what is to come while also reaching for every pulse of hope for our communal world, the world our children, my son, will grow up in. Unlike wisdom and knowledge, hope beckons the possibility of a better future, and through hope we endeavor to move from “what is” to “what could be.”
Although all hope is unseen, I am reminded hope can be rooted in the present by living a life of goodness and compassion. The essayist Montaigne wrote: “Our great and glorious masterpiece is to live properly.” Contrary to my Type A personality, the current challenges and uncertainties of life have no fixed ending point to mark on a calendar. Instead, I am reminded to look to the sun rising every morning, replacing anxious and weary thoughts with those of renewal and patient, persevering hope. What other choice do we have?
Sometimes the best moments that bring us hope are not life-changing events. Instead they are smaller, every day events that we often take for granted without realizing their importance: A child’s laughter, the color of sunlight as it hits the morning dew, the smell of fresh coffee, the beauty of flowers and changing leaves, or the affirming and warm hug from a grandparent, telling us “all will be ok.” Hope is all around us, if only we open our eyes towards it.
At the end of a weary day, when we might be feeling the effects of ruptured hope, God’s love can be perceived through the flesh of ordinary people and acts around us. Bob Dylan, one of my dad's favorite musicians, sang: “Know your song well, before you start singing.”
We all hope for a better future; let’s sing our song of hope well, to make our world a better place.
