Hope

Monday’s Musings to Quilt Encouragement

Hope

“Hope springs eternal in the Human breast.” An eighteenth-century English Poet, Alexander Pope, first penned this expression. Hope is wonderful. Romans 15:13 “…the God of hope fill us with joy and peace in believing that ye may abound in hope….” Hope is a precious commodity for our soul. Some of our hopes are small, and we can suffer their loss without only twinges of regret. However, other hopes are quite major and weigh heavily in importance to our minds. When those hopes are battered, we feel as if we have suffered a mighty blow which threatens us with consequences such as depression. At those times we wonder, where is this “springs eternal” thing? We especially crave hope as we approach this Christmas season in the midst of another spike of Covid 19.

The scripture in Romans asserts that belief in God is the source of hope. Hope hinges on our belief in God. When we believe, He fills us with a joy and peace that brings us to ‘abound’ or to use a more modern word to ‘flourish’ in hope. When our hopes are dashed, our way to revive this ‘springs eternal’ thing within us is to ask God to help us expand our ability to believe in Him, in His love, and in His goodness. Ask Him to direct us to know what He wants us to hope for now. As He increases our believing ability and our faith in Him, He will revive our hope in those things that suit our particular moment, this specific stage of our life. The closer we cling to Him the more we will find renewed joy.