It’s officially Advent. It’s the most busy, I mean wonderful, time of the year. In the Catholic tradition, we have Advent wreaths, and each candle/week focuses on a different element. It’s week one, so the focus of this week is hope. Jesus’ birth and the promise of Him coming again gives us hope in what is to come.
The dictionary defines hope as a feeling of trust, an expectation or desire for something to happen. People use this word in a lot of different ways, so I wonder how you define hope, and what it means to you.
In my bedroom I have a hope chest. When my grandma was little, a hope chest meant filling it with all the things that were going to go with you to your home when you get married. Young women would sew and emborder linens and quilts to use for their families. That’s a nice way to pass something on to the new generation. I have a quilt that is almost 100 years old, made by my great-grandmother and great-aunt. I have quilts made by my grandmother, and most recently, my mother. Links between the past and the present.
That brings me to my metaphorical hope chest. I can’t see hope, but I can feel it and I know that I have it. I have the trust and even the expectation that things are working out exactly as they should. It may not be what I am thinking is going to happen, but it’s always right.
The quote below from Martin Luther King, Jr. resonates with me because as long as I have hope, there is light in whatever darkness currently surrounds me. Darkness cannot conquer the light. Light (good) always wins. Hope reminds me that even though I can’t see it, it’s still there. Hope is the bridge between my past, present, and future.
So in this Advent season, is your hope chest full, or does it need to be filled? Take some time this week in the midst of all the busyness of life and check in on where you are on the hope spectrum.
How can you fill it up? You can fill it with Scripture, with kind acts, with prayer time, anything that brings you closer to God. May you have abundant hope in this season and always.
