"Can anyone tell me what hope means?" To be honest, it is a hard question and I am not expecting a kindergartener to be able to answer.
Brecken's hand shoots up and he responds in his low voice,
"It is when you wish for something and know that it is coming."
I am stunned. I share my story about hope but really is there anymore I can share. The definition came from the voice of a child, and in that moment surrounded by stained glass God spoke. I wonder how is it someone so young knows such an adult description. Why is it he can define what I can't?
Hope comes easy for most children. Many haven't experienced the let down when things hoped for don't come. They haven't built walls to protect themselves from the dissappointment of life's lost hopes. Maybe this is what Jesus meant when he said,
"Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."--Matt 18: 16-17
My defintion of hope has been missing something. Oh I have wished for lots of things...but it was more like "wishful thinking". It's the "know that it is coming" part I have forgotten. Children they assume it is coming...almost a fact.
God had not spoken for hundreds of years. No message from prophets...just a people hoping. The problem is they, like us, had forgotten that the Messiah would be a reality one day. I have forgotten too. And Advent is a reminder to be more intentional about expecting an outcome to my hope.
"For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not have, we wait for it patiently."--Romans 8: 24-25
