SUNDAY—HOPE AND FAITH

“Hoping does not mean doing nothing. It means going about our assigned tasks, confident that God will provide the meaning and the conclusion. It means a confident, alert expectation that God will do what he said he will do. It is imagination put in the harness of faith. It is a willingness to let God do it in his way and in his time. It is the opposite of making plans that we demand God put into effect, telling him both how and when to do it.
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From “A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an instant society” by Eugene H. Peterson. (1998) Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. Reprinted with permission.

Today is your day for putting your faith in something bigger than you! It doesn’t matter whether you call that entity God, Love, Buddha, Allah, Universe, Spirit, the Divine or Spiritual Wisdom, as long as it has meaning for you!

As you go through all your tasks today, recognize there is a much larger world than you can see. Try to sense the spiritual nature of the world. See and feel how full of hope things really are. There is vast spiritual wisdom in action here.

Check to see you are doing your part in your life responsibly. Look for the hope and light inside what appears dark, and if you can’t find the light, hold onto faith or pray that it will come. Allow the future to unfold without pushing or needing or wanting what you want to happen now!

Put your faith in the fact that someday, you might understand the “grand plan” of your life. You will see that many outcomes which you may have thought were the worst in the world, turned out to be the best.

Perhaps a relationship breaks down and you separate. At the time, you are crushed. You feel no hope. You can’t go on. Of course you can and you do! And with hindsight, you look back and thank God for the blessings.

For example, if you had not ended your previous relationship, you would never have met the real man or woman of your dreams! Or you may not have made the trip of a lifetime. Or you might eventually realize that the person you so adored had a lot more baggage than you realized and it was in fact a lucky escape!

Who knows what the “disabled, troubled or difficult” child brings as their gifts. Our friend Mary’s son was diagnosed with severe autism. She was told there was nothing to be done, and that there was no hope.

That wasn’t the right thing to say to Mary!

As a result of the gift of her son Michael, Mary has discovered both her incredible capacity to heal, and many treatments that have helped hundreds of people that were never used before for autism or other health issues. Mary’s life has not been easy and still is not easy. But she does her work cheerfully and diligently, and makes the effort to help Michael and others heal. She believes and has absolute faith and a knowing, that he will be healed. She has fought and continues to fight with amazing courage to make things better for him. She makes things happen when she is told it is impossible. Nothing takes away her faith and hope.

This is a shared story of many courageous parents who maintain hope in the face of seemingly insurmountable problems. And every parent who has fought this battle will tell you that the gifts and joy their child has brought them are immeasurable.

We don’t know what the future holds and I don’t think we are meant to, because that takes away the element of mystery, and the lesson and discipline of faith and hope.

Our lessons may not be learned if we don’t experience some suffering, pain, loss, sorrow or uncertainty. If we are never uncertain, fearful or confused, faith and hope are not practiced. And we need to practice them—they are like muscles. Use them or lose them!

Practice today—every moment you can, exercise your hope and faith that the spiritual world exists and God makes good out of bad, or brings light into the darkness. Actively hold that hope in your heart—it is required for the transmutation in the alchemical process happening in your heart.

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