Welcome Hope

(Here is my Faith Lifts Devotion appearing Friday morning. I think you’ll be blessed, especially because it’s a Christmas post where I don’t mention Target.)

“And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Romans 5:5).

As I walked into my house this morning after dropping my girls off at preschool, I saw the large wooden snowman my four-year-old had planted deep in the mulch at the front of our house. This was her contribution to the Christmas decorating that she did with her Daddy. She was bursting with pride at how fabulous the snowman looked with his painted scarf and jolly smile.

The snowman has a little sign that hangs down underneath his face. “Welcome Hope”, the sign announces in red and green letters.

Welcome hope.

“Welcome hope?” I said with delight to my husband Hugh when I walked in. “Have you seen the words on the snowman?”

The sign in my mulch is my Christmas present from God this year – as though He put the snowman there to remind me about what I really need in this season. I don’t really need an iPhone, and I don’t need anymore books or clothes or fun kitchen tools for meals I am sure I won’t make in the New Year.

But I need hope. Hope that God is in charge of my life and that He is leading me in every step I take. Hope that my future is secure in the hands of my Father as He begins to reveal to me that my life is going to be more than just surviving. Hope that I will hear His voice more clearly. Hope that His love indeed is poured out all over my life and heart.

I do not hope very much. Life seems mostly about trying to get control of the daily or weekly crises that happen when you have young children. The breathing room has been spent trying to get control of larger issues: marriage, finances, emotional healing.

And I think that there is a time for the routine of my life. A time for preschool lunches and talking through the budget and sitting in my counselor’s office as I cry about my own Christmas memories.

But maybe there is a time for hope, too. More than I’ve realized. Maybe my focus should be more on the things that God is going to do in my life than the things I’ve done in the past. Maybe my focus can be more on who He is instead of the ways I’ve messed up.

And as I spend more time focusing on the hope of God and the truth of who He is in His Word, my perspective begins to change. I begin to hear from Him about every aspect of my life, and I get wisdom and strength from the Holy Spirit to do the things He is asking me to do.

So, welcome hope. And welcome joy. Welcome purpose and gratitude and laughter and worship. Welcome snowman and good Christmas memories and kissing and walks in the cold air. I will fling open the door to my soul this Christmas season and make room for the hope of Christ to fill me.

Peace on earth and peace in my heart as hope begins to fill my house this year.

Lord, your hope does not disappoint and I am in awe of your love for me. I pray that you would come and give me even more hope and faith in you. I want to grow in my trust for who you are and in our relationship. I love you, Lord. In the name of your Son, Amen.