By Sam McKeen
Hope, a simple word and yet filled with meaning. Hope is powerful. It is an important aspect of every person’s life. Everyone places hope in something. What do you put your hope in? Relationships? Family? Your Career? Your health? Your wealth?
These arenas of hope can bring great fulfillment and joy in life. However, they can also bring great pain and hopelessness. A broken relationship. The death of a loved one. The loss of a job. A cancer diagnosis. A bad financial investment. These things can all bring a sense of hopelessness.
The reality is that most of what we put our hope in is temporal and not guaranteed. After all, when we use the word hope we most often use it in the context of a desire or a wish. We hope that our favorite sports team is victorious. We hope that a pandemic would end and life could go back to normal. A child hopes for a specific gift to be under the tree on Christmas morning.
Have you considered that there is another kind of hope? This hope is not a desire or a wish. It is something that has not yet happened but it is a certainty that it is going to happen. This is the hope of Christmas. This is hope you can count on. Hope that lasts regardless of what life may throw at you.
People all over the world are familiar with the Christmas Story. The beautiful and amazing story that surrounds the birth of Jesus. A baby born and laid in a manger in the small town of Bethlehem. His seemingly humble beginnings were an unlikely origin to the hope that he would bring to the world through his death, burial, and resurrection. A hope that transcends the physical world and brings people into a right relationship with God. This hope is offered as a precious gift to all people for all time. Regardless of where you have placed your hope, take some time to reflect and consider receiving the gift of hope that is celebrated this time of year, the hope of Christmas.
