The Patience of Hope

The season of joy and cheer is definitely upon us and many will be traveling to join family and friends for a time of festivities and favorite holiday meals.  Seeing long lost cousins, fussing aunties and Christmas carols playing nonstop on the radio add to the sizzle of the season. But while this season means joy to one, it also may be a harsh reminder that the year has come to an end and there are goals and dreams that are unmet, unfulfilled.

See, the year starts with gusto. You sign up for a new gym membership with every intention of finishing strong. You buy a new juicer to help you eat healthy. You join an online dating site with the hope of meeting someone new. You pledge to participate in the Fear Not Challenge 2017 to push yourself to do that which fear has kept you from accomplishing. So during this month of December, as people flock to the malls to buy gifts and plans are made for exotic getaways, you secretly look at that list that you wrote during the month of January and there is not much to cross off. Soon it will be 2018, in 10 days to be exact and you sure do have a lot that was not accomplished. Some of it was your own undoing, you just did not stick it out, but then there are those things that did not happen due to matters that were beyond your control. I want to encourage you to have the patience of Hope.

I was reading the book of 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 when I came across the exhortation from Paul to the church in Thessalonica to have the patience of hope. What that spoke to me was that I could not let the hope I have for every situation in my life die. I have to keep hope alive and that hope will fuel the patience to keep trying, to keep  persisting till that desire is fulfilled and becomes a tree of life.

https://wakenyacanada.com/10-reasons-to-hope-when-hurting/

Illuminate life’s journey with a Personal Vision Statement

I thank each one of you that started this year with me. Each of you that read a post, re-posted it and encouraged a friend with what the Lord led me to share. Thank you for those prodded me when I did not think I had anything worth writing and kept me on my toes concerning my challenge list. And as the year comes to close, I encourage us all, be kind to yourself, have the patience of Hope. Hope that God has a good plan for you now and in the coming year. Hope that the dream you have will come to fruition. Hope that you can try again where you slacked or failed. Hope that all you have come committed to the Lord will become a tree of life because hope does not disappoint.

I look forward to what God has in store for the year 2018. But for now, let us take time to enjoy Christmas and the joy of the hope that we have in Christ’s birth. So Merry Christmas and a Hope Filled New Year!! Watch this space for more on what we shall embark on in 2018.

By Catherine K.

Published with permission. First appeared on lifeseasons.wixsite.com as part of “The Fear not Challenge”

Proverbs 13:12 – Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when longing is fulfilled, it is a tree of life.

~Wakenya Canada