Light the Candle of Hope

The words of the Advent wreath...Peace, Hope, Joy and Love. Isn’t that what all of us want in our lives? If we had those, could we feel like we had it all? I thought that I would spend my midweek blog for the next 4 weeks of December reflecting each week on one aspect.

This second week of Advent, let’s light the candle of hope.

I ask myself...what do I hope for? I certainly can respond that I hope for peace, hope, joy and love in my life. I can also tell you that my kids roll their eyes when they hear my response! Then I ask myself...what do I need to hope in to receive what I hope for… (that may be a bit wordy so read it slowly).

I know without a doubt that to receive what I hope for, I must put my hope in Jesus. Anything else I would hope to receive  would only be temporary or as they often say in Scripture, they would be  “false gods”. Living in a country and a community where we have so “much”, we can so easily be tempted or distracted to believe that all of the other “stuff” can fill us. But it doesn’t. 

What happens when the toy or gadget we hoped for so badly breaks? What happens when the new car we got with a red ribbon on top gets hit by another car? We had hoped for something that is temporary. It is not a real source of real hope. That hope will only last for a season at best. 

Hope this season for HOPE, that is real and everlasting...evergreen!  When you receive peace, hope, joy and love you cannot help but share all of that with others. We then become filled and changed and our world will change too.

May your life be filled with hope this Advent season and always, Pastor Patti