The Thrill of Hope

We’re rounding the bend into another holiday season. Once again, we reflect on the previous twelve months. We wonder how they flew by so fast and marvel that we survived. It’s been a lot of a lot.

It’s easy, at times like this, when there’s so much unrest, injustice, and fear, to keep peeking around the corner with caution, wondering what surprise is coming next. We can start to feel as though there is no hope.

Things will just keep getting harder. There is no end in sight. The wicked, the unjust, the challengers of God prosper, doing whatever they want with seemingly no consequences. It feels like God has forgotten us or decided to walk away from the messes we’ve created. We’re having trust issues these days, with everyone and everything we’ve ever known.

Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, “And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love (1 Corinthians 13:13, NIV).”

Lack of love leads to lack of hope, and love is another thing that’s in short supply these days. Instead, vitriol, division, and hate fill our news feeds and media channels. Angry screaming is drowning out gentle words and kindness, adding to the overwhelming sense of hopelessness.

Many are asking, “What do we have to look forward to? Why bother trying if no one thinks I’m worthy? Who even cares?”

It leaves us exhausted and deflated as we try to figure out how to turn the volume down on the negative voices and hurtful narrative. We look around for answers, an example to follow, a clear picture of someone who got it right.

We find it when we discover “how God showed his love among us. He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins (1 John 4:9-10, NIV).”

It doesn’t get much clearer.

There is a reason that Jesus came to Earth as a baby. Who doesn’t love a sweet, precious baby? They are the very symbol of hope – new and unsullied by the world.

Babies are small and full of potential. They represent a fresh start, ripe with possibilities. They remind us of the excitement of new beginnings, bigger and better dreams to fulfill. They grow and change right before our eyes. They smile at strangers and cuddle without prejudice. They include us in their giggles and games, no matter our station or status.

The God of love sent his precious bundle as a gift for all humanity to bring hope, show us exactly how to love, and then save us all. He made sure to send the message that this gift is for everyone, by introducing the Prince of Peace through humble beginnings, following the laws of biology (mostly, there was one notable exception), and then having him spend time as a “regular guy” who walked among us, living in community.

It made Jesus real and relatable. He engaged with people in the middle of the mess. He walked the dirt roads, waited with the crowds, and rode in the boats.

Then he walked his walk, all the way to the cross. He took the hardest road and the harshest punishment to save us and give us a chance at life with him forever, held and loved in the arms of Father. He did so without hesitation, without complaint, without conditional exclusions.

I believe that’s why this time of year is so magical and so important. It’s our reminder of the time when the Word became flesh, the intangible became tangible, and Divinity walked among us.

It’s the time of year when we’re reminded our human senses got to experience God in a personal, palpable way. That Jesus lived right in front of our faces and showed us that humanity is a gift, even when it doesn’t feel like it. And that he was not above partaking in every aspect of it because he loves us, even when we don’t love ourselves….or each other.

Jesus was an encourager. He spent his life spreading the message of hope and salvation, reassuring us that he had overcome the world. He took the time to meet with people and build them up through his presence and actions.

He included the un-includable. He loved the unlovable. He gathered them and added them to the mix so the group would be diverse, as large, and as strong as possible. Jesus proclaimed that hope is a group project, and every member of the group counted. Every contribution mattered.

What a difference it makes when we remember that Christmas is the season of hope and of reflecting the joy that is to come; of celebrating a God who walked among us, who spent time as one of us, who knows the extent of human suffering to the extreme and endured it to show us, it can be done.

When we focus on the incomprehensible level of love that is required and accept that the God who made the choice to love that way is still here, still on the throne, and still loving us with fierce intensity and intentionality, we can openly proclaim that we are “convinced that neither life nor death, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38-39, NIV).”

We can still acknowledge the hard. We can still rage against the journey on the days the load is too heavy. Faith is neither blind nor naïve. But, I know it doesn’t take away the pain of walking out the hard times. It doesn’t lessen the intensity or the level of difficulty. It doesn’t minimize the impact on our hearts and souls.

What it does is fortify us. It gives us the surety of what we hope for and certainty of what we do not see (Hebrews 11:1, NIV). It binds us together with a common, unbreakable weapon against the common enemy we face. So we can make a pact that on the days you are too broken or weary to be convinced, I will be convinced enough for both of us. And on the days I am overcome with life’s burdens, you’ll do the same for me. That’s the group project gig.

Whether the next year comes in offering comfort and congratulations for our survival of her predecessor or dukes it out for the title of “Hardest Year Ever,” we must remember that hope springs eternal. Because love came here in the form of a baby, to show us that nothing is impossible when our God gets involved.

What a thrill.

Rebecca Greebon is a wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, and child of the One True King. She has a passion for sharing with others how amazing they are, how much they are loved, and how blessed every day is, even when we are lost or distracted or completely over ourselves and the world. Rebecca blogs at theriverchick.com.