Memories, events, births, deaths, discoveries — these and many other items stand out in our memories, especially this last year.
“I will never forget when…”
These few words contain so much.
“The baby was born!”
These words bring joy to family of many generations.
“I’m coming home!”
Good news of the release of a person from the hospital who was intubated, recovered enough to be released, brings joy and hope to a family.
“… has died!”
This sort of news burns into a heart and brain and lasts — 500,000 deaths — heard so often and painfully by so many!
YET
We continue living.
We continue believing.
We continue hoping.
We continue working and believing in a better tomorrow.
Centuries ago, Jeremiah when a community, a nation was devastated, with no seen hope for the future.
YET he wrote because of his belief and life in a God who was in his life “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29.11 NIV)
Cause for a cautious hope after a six month visit/evaluation with my pulmonologist— lung capacity better than last year — an slightly animated YES while keeping faithful to the pulmonologists’s orders.
This hope rests on facts and the interpretation of data.
Other hope(s)?
Multiple uses of a word manifests that the word is important. Hope is such a word in the Bible where, according to diverse sources, “hope” appears 131 times.
In English, hope is a somewhat abstract idea of expectation.
In Hebrew (tikvah), however, is more concrete, meaning expectation, cord or rope, coming from a root word that means to bind or to wait for or upon.
Expectation based upon what in the case of science.
Faith-based hopes comes from the experience of a living God.
Hope flourished in two unlikely books of the Bible — Job and Lamentations.
Job had no scientific data to hold onto to for a hopeful future — yet his future became better than his past.
The word “lamentation” cries out from pain and death — much like our world and our country with over 500,000 deaths!
YET the following comes from the Book of Lamentations:
“Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:
Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” (Lamentations 3.20_26)
The writer, the community, I, and many others feel and embrace hope because of the great love we have seen and felt in our lives — the Great Whom — I am who I am!
Works of art mesmerize, capture, draw out words and feelings of awe, appreciation, and so much more.
A masterpiece.
The beauty of the Pieta, Monet and Matisse, the wonder of a fine piece of furniture — to mention just a few.
The finished product radiates.
However, the process leading to the final product takes time, talent, patience, and perseverance.
Michelangelo labored over a slab of marble for two years to finish the Pieta.
The wisdom of later life stands on the growth and pain and molding of many years.
Who would not want to be the sculptor who chiseled the Pieta?
Who would not want to be the carpenter who made a fine piece of furniture?
But how about being the piece of marble which needs to be chiseled?
But how about being the wood which needs to be cut and sanded?
People in our life can be the sandpaper which refines us, when and if we are patient.
People in our life can be the sculptor who chisel us and take away the rough edges, turning us into works or art!
“For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” Ephesians 2.10 NLT
While anniversary, birthday, or something similar may come to mind, today is not another Wednesday, it is Ash Wednesday.
Ashes on foreheads!
“Remember you are dust and unto dust you shall return” accompanies the action of ashes being put on the forehead.
While this sounds ominous and chilling, this reminder of our mortality, the fragility of life starts Lent.
When viewed through another lens, our sight offers us an insight and path to hope.
One religious leader expressed this path to hope in the following way: “We’ve had a lot of deprivation. We’ve had a lot of folks losing jobs, everyone’s time getting stretched, people having gotten more responsibilities within their families, relationships going through a lot of big transitions. What I’m trying to focus on is the idea of Lent as a season of preparation to celebrate and Lent as a time to really prepare for that hope that is coming.”
(Rev. Tiffania Icaza Willets, Seminole Heights United Methodist Church)
A hope that is coming, something to look forward to.
What can we look forward to: vaccination shot, spending physical face to face time with those we love, Easter or…?
YET
What do I, you, and all of us in this time of preparation for the hope that IS coming?
I can remember once when I was driving from Chicago to St. Cloud Minnesota — I had never heard of it — have you?
In the era — seems centuries ago — we navigated by using MAPS — paper maps.
Part of the joy of being a kid was listening to the dialogue (much too polite a word) of the interplay between my dad (the driver) and my mom (the map reader and navigator.)
But I was by myself, trying to read and follow a map (about the size of a table cloth for a 12 person table).
I got lost!
We all get lost, lose our bearings.
The following account/prayer comes from a person whom I greatly admire: Thomas Merton.
My Lord God,
I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore will I trust you always, though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.”
If you feel alone and lost, please consider praying it.
In a time when we focus on the new, the present, sometimes the long view may be the wise view.
The “yet to come” view is well expressed in the following.
Dear Ann Landers:
Dear Kay:
Several readers, as well as some family members, sent me this same piece. Some said they got it off the Internet. It has been attributed to Roger William Thomas.
It is indeed a heart-warmer, and I am printing it with pleasure: Keep Your Fork
A woman was diagnosed with a terminal illness and given three months to live. She asked her pastor to come to her home to discuss her final wishes. She told him which songs she wanted sung at her funeral, and what scriptures to read, and which outfit she wanted to be buried in.
Then she said, “One more thing. I want to be buried with a fork in my hand.”
The pastor was surprised. The woman explained, “In all my years of attending church socials and potluck dinners, I always remember that when the dishes of the main course were being cleared, someone would inevitably lean over and say, `Keep your fork.’ It was my favorite time, because I knew something better was coming, like velvety chocolate cake or deep-dish apple pie — something wonderful. So, I want people to see me there in that casket with a fork in my hand and wonder, ‘What’s with the fork?’ Then, I want you to tell them, `Keep your fork, because the best is yet to come.”‘
The pastor’s eyes welled up with tears of joy as he bid the woman goodbye. He realized that she had a better grasp of heaven than he did and knew something better was coming.
At the funeral, when people asked him why she was holding a fork, the pastor told them of the conversation he’d had with the woman before she died. He said he could not stop thinking about the fork and knew they probably would not be able to stop thinking about it, either. He was right.
“Winter forms our character and brings out our best.” –Tom Allen
“Winter is a season of recovery and preparation.” –Paul Theroux
“Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.”” –Edith Sitwell
“The hard soil and four months of snow make the inhabitants of the northern temperate zone wiser and abler than his fellow who enjoys the fixed smile of the tropics. ” –Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Let us love winter, for it is the spring of genius.” –Pietro Aretino
