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Waiting for HOPE.

We are always waiting.

Waiting for the next best thing.

Waiting for the current circumstances to diminish for some much needed relief.

Waiting for things to change so we can finally be "happy."

Do you feel the wait?

Do you sense the pause of our world right now,

Waiting for something better, something we HOPE is coming?

Do you feel it maybe a little extra this Christmas season?

I do.


The anticipation of HOPE building as wars rage around us.

A silent enemy threatening the collapse of our healthcare systems

A war of political opinions justifying and villainizing  

The typing of a keyboard spewing hatred to strangers that disagree

The war of wearing a cloth face covering or to not.

A war of our words.


But HOPE.

It hints and glimpses a flicker in the lit candle as 2020 comes to a close,

A light cutting into the darkness

A pause, a mere breath in time 

HOPE as a tiny light shines.

And we wait and we wonder,

Is this HOPE coming in the form of a needle and antibodies

Or in a political figure, one or the other that will bring us more peace?


But history is our teacher

Hope like these can flash bright lights but easily be snuffed out.

Limited and over time will leave us needing more

Not enough.

Heavy sighs as we keep waiting.

If not those, then what?

A few more empty chairs at the table this year haunt us

Shadows of darkness have fallen on our hearts in this difficult season

Tired feet shuffle to the coffee pot 

Hoping to pour out some sort of relief from our exhaustion.


Over 2000 years ago----

I wonder if people felt like this.

The waiting. The wars. Political discord. Exhaustion.

Weary souls weak from the fight----all waiting for something to give them 

HOPE.


And then a tiny baby.

With small fingers and toes.

A small flicker of HOPE born into darkness and the cold.

Could lasting HOPE truly come from such a humble beginning?

This HOPE didn't come as flashy, or loud or on a screen with the best hashtags.

I'm afraid if it happened today----we might have missed it or not believed it.

Is this HOPE really warm enough to hold us on the coldest of nights 

Or give light to us in our darkest hour?


The waiting finally coming to an end.

A HOPE that seemed unreachable

A lasting HOPE that seemed unfathomable

Reached down to us.

How personal.

This HOPE.

Emmanuel. 

God is with us.






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