Author Confessions: The Power of Hope
I’ve been feeling more hopeful lately. Part of me thinks it has something to do with impending spring. Yes, the calender says spring is already here but that’s not always what we experience, at least in Wiscsonsin where I live. We’ve had a wet winter. Some snow but the ground hasn’t really frozen and it can create a muddy mess.
It’s still March and the weather can be horribly fickle so we might still get a massive snowstorm. We have Indian Summer in late fall and False Spring late winter. I remember a few Easter Sundays where winter raged it’s head making travel difficult. When my kids were little we went out and blew bubbles watching them freeze in the air. A fun memory.
Still I have hope. I even dug my sandles out of storage.
While lent is a time for repentance there is also an anticipation that is different from Christmas time. The pretty lights and decorations as we celebrate the birth of Christ. But Christmas doesn’t have much meaning without the forshadowing of the cross He would later hang on as a sacrifice for our sins. Darkeness before light. Winter before spring.
This was a one time only event and was the salvation for all. Weather might be fickle but Jesus’s work on the cross was final. We remember and refect year after year. Jesus never retracts His promises to those who submit to His lordship over their lives.
Notice I didn’t say believe? Many believe, even the demons, and they shudder! Yet they won’t be saved.
We are also in the process of building a house that has had all kinds of setbacks but I’m starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel even as I struggle with learning so many new things and making a dozen choices. I spent hours measuring my kitchen and drawing lines on the floor where everything will be. My body is definitely complaining about that abuse especially after an injury over a week ago helping get a heavy one piece shower into the building, with help of course. I strained a muscle that is taking its sweet time in healing.
Soon, however, the walls will have insulation and be drywalled and we’ll get flooring laid. Eventually the outside stuff will be done and I am eager to plant seeds and bulbs. Maybe I won’t have pretty flowers this year, but I have hope for some of them.
Hope is powerful. Sunny, warm days, even if a snowstorm still might visit, helps me stay the course.
Here’s a silly look at the seasons from Wisconsin comic, Charlie Berens. Enjoy, Spring is coming!
