There is Our Hope

It's a beautiful day today; the breeze is light, the sun is shining, birds are chirping, and with every step I took while walking my dog, I was grateful to be alive. Caught up in the beauty of creation, I was suddenly struck by the infinite hope alive in the world today.

We so tend to focus, all the time, on the negative, and indeed, there are a LOT of problems in the world. It seems we do nothing but rush headlong from crisis into crisis, never having a moment to even draw a breath.  We put our entire focus into those problems, refusing to lift our heads and acknowledge what is good, what is beautiful, what is true, even in the midst of our darkest hours. 

We gasp out our cries to God for help, but never stop long enough to see that He is already there, and yet we prefer to hold on to our problems with grubby, bloody hands, refusing to stop, look into the Holy Visage of Our Lord, and stretch out our hands so that He can catch us and take our burdens away.  

We have to surrender. Completely. In our pettiness and greed, we even try to make our suffering worse at times, perhaps fearing what might happen if we, for once, let go and entrust everything to God. We say to ourselves, "It can't get any worse", but refuse to believe if we aren't holding on to it, it won't get any better, either.  And so we dig ourselves into a pit.

God waits, He watches. 

That's why it gets so dark sometimes; it's because He sees we're in trouble and comes to help, and when the light is obscured, it is only because Our Lord's shadow has fallen over us as He arrives to carry us AND our burdens.  

Wherever you are, it's a beautiful day.  It's beautiful because God made it, and He made you for the exact moment you are in right now.  And wherever you are, He is there with you, He knows you, He loves you, and He will never abandon you.  We should not find our dark moments to be so dreadful, but rather, hopeful. 

It seems such a contradiction, but did the world ever have a darker moment than when Our Lord was stretched out on the Cross, and having given all, gave up his spirit for the world?

The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.  God became one of us...and we killed Him.

Then the Glory and the Triumph of the Cross was revealed as Christ raised from the dead, and Ascended into Heaven.  

It seems, then, a folly to find hope in the darkness, yet, therin is our own personal imitation of the folly and the glory of the Cross, for we now have the benefit of knowing that the Resurrection is coming.  We know now about Our Lord's Ascension. And we know that one day, He will call our names, and we will go to Him and see Him face to face. 

There is our Hope.  There is our Glory, found only in God.  There is our Savior...behold Him.

He is there, in every moment. Surrender. Trust. Hope. 

Amen.