Revelations 21: 5-6
And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.
Apathy is an enemy to the soul
It saps the spirit and life out of one's existent until all there is left is a hollow shell.
It prevents any action or inspiration from hope because it is too afraid of being disappointed.
It doesn't try because it doesn't believe that there is a chance.
Fear of failure.
If there is a light at the end of the tunnel, even how faint of a glimmer, it can never be reached unless it is sought out.
The only way you can fail, is to stop trying.
My Grandma held onto hope, in fact she held it up high like a torch.
She had hope that God had better days in store.
And he did. And does.
She hoped through the gloom and heartache. And let God's light shine in her life.
"The secret to happiness is to not expect too much"
Is this true?
Well certainly expecting perfection is a recipe for disappointment. And expecting the world to run in such a way that you get everything you want and desire is also unrealistic.
People are both predictable and unpredictable.
You cannot depend on people to surprise you how you want or when you want.
Expecting a relationship to be perfect with no mess, or trials, or malfunctions is unrealistic and unhealthy even.
However it is also harmful to have too low of expectations. Because without a standard of some sort you are opening up yourself to being trod on, trampled, kicked aside and left at the side of the road.
Expectations are a filter. Let in the good, remove the bad.
Another way to think of it is swimming in a river. Its unrealistic and will wear you out if you swim directly against the current.
But, if you simply let yourself be carried along to wherever the current takes you, you'll end up being dashed against the rocks.
Instead you have to adopt compromise.
Swimming sideways, partly against the current, and partly with. Swimming with a purpose towards the shore, towards you goals, hopes and dreams, but using the current to aid you instead of going directly against it.
And this is the difference between being either unrealistically hopeful or dare I say, unrealistically UN-hopeful.
Reasons to hope exist all around us, but too often we are disappointed because we look for hope in the wrong places.
God put hope in our hearts for a reason. Not so that we could be disappointed by the brokenness of this world. But so that we can know that the world is in fact broken. That this is not how it is supposed to be.
And most importantly, that God has better things in store for us than what we know see.
The world is broken. But that doesn't mean it can't be fixed. That's why God sent a Savior. That's why he sent Jesus.
That's why the sun still shines. That's why he put this fire in my heart to write.
Because I see that all is not as it can be. That God's got better things in store.
And there will be a day when it is restored.
So keep that light flaring in your window.
Because in God, we shall never hope in vain.
