When You Need A Little Hope
Dear Church Family,
My day started with a text from a friend that read, "Tell me today is going to be a good day." I could tell from those words that their morning had started in the opposite direction, and they were seeking a word of hope.
I quickly responded, "It's going to be a good day!" How could it not be? My day had started ahead of schedule with a wide-open calendar to get lots of good tasks done. I even had a meeting get cancelled! Can I get a hallelujah?!
However, my "good day" took a few turns after arriving at the office. As is often the case, unplanned surprises were awaiting me that rapidly took the wind out of my 'good day' sails. The clouds came overhead, and suddenly I was the one needing hope.
In the midst of my deflated morning, Emily pointed me to a book we both love called The Lives We Actually Have: 100 Blessings for Imperfect Days by Kate Bowler. She suggested I read the blessing on page 41 called "for when you need a little hope." (To all the grammar police cringing at the lack of capital letters, rest assured that this is how Kate Bowler titles her blessings.)
But as I scanned the table of contents, my eyes fell upon a different title: "for when it's been a great day." Now, I didn't think I was having a great day, but sometimes a title jumps out at us for a reason. Trusting my gut, I flipped to page 64 to read this blessing instead. Here are the opening and closing lines:
God, I want to bottle up the magic of this day,
and sip from it again and again.
I want to savor the taste of it,
the beauty of it
so I won't—can't—forget…
…Blessed are we with open hands
receiving it gratefully, carefully storing it away like a tea set,
ready to be poured out again when friends stop by.
Reading this reminded me that even though we all have tough days, we all have great days too. In fact, there are likely great parts of every day we are given. Seeing the sunset from my office window was a pretty great part of an otherwise challenging day.
But I love the idea of "receiving it gratefully" so that we can store it up for the future—to remind us that God is good. As we enter a season of gratitude and thanksgiving, this feels especially important: remembering those blessings in our lives, big or small, that give us hope and point us back to God's goodness.
Then I turned to the blessing I had originally been heading toward: "for when you need a little hope." In it, Kate writes, "Hope is an anchor dropped into the future. We feel you pulling us toward it once again."
Both blessings work together beautifully. When we notice the goodness of God's world and our moments in it, we can store those up. They become the anchor of hope dropped into the future for when we need it. Scripture never promises us that life will be easy, but God created us with the capacity for hope. And hope pulls us forward.
So here's my prayer for all of us this week. If you're having a great day, bottle it up. Store it away like a precious tea set, ready to pour out when you need it. And if your day feels like it's falling apart, reach for that anchor of hope—remember the great days you've stored up, and know that God is with you in this moment too.
Whether today feels great or difficult, God is present, and that presence is the truest hope we have.
With God's Peace,
Pastor Karl
