Sometimes the only thing to fall back on is hope. Hope like a buoy that you cling too when the waves threaten to crash over you and steal your breath away.
It was never promised that each day would be without blemish, or struggle, or even sadness, the kind that creeps up on you unaware, sometimes wrapping its cold fingers around your neck, threatening to drag you down, down, down.
But there’s hope. There’s always hope, the hope of a new day, the hope that tomorrow can be better than today.
The outcome is not always as it should be. The results of hard work, well, sometimes it seems to just be more work. Dedication sometimes leads to further responsibility, further seeking and searching required to find that answer or solution that continues to elude, that continues to be one step ahead of you.
But then there’s hope. There’s hope in perseverance, hope in dedication, hope for the promised prize. Hope shining like a beacon, beckoning the weary to keep going, to not give up. Ever.
Hope tells you that it’s okay to not know the answers, to not know it all, or even claim to know a little. Hope tells you that you will be alright if you don’t have an answer to the ever elusive why because hope is born of trust, trust in Him.
Bad things will happen. It won’t matter your last name, your position in society, the community, or the workforce. It won’t matter if you deserve it or even if you don’t. It could just so happen anyway. Death. Disaster. Loss. Something as simple as a bad hair day or as complex as those dreaded test results being malignant.
You won’t fear the bad news, the lost job, or the dashed dream. Hope banishes fear.
But when you do fear, because you will; it’s okay. Hope renews the belief in good. Hope renews the future, and gives new life. Hope heals.
Some days it is hard to find hope, so sufficiently camouflaged by despair. When doubt creeps in, stealing joy and robbing peace, this is when you feel hopeless.
But hope is always there, always present, even when unseen.
Some days when the walk is extra difficult, when the bitter cold bites bone deep, and the wind threatens to blow you off coarse, then is when you must lean in. Lean in to the wind and keep walking. Trust. Trust that hope is still present. Press in. Cling.
Isaiah 40:31
But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.