About Him

"My God draws near to the humble – really, really near. My eyes are opened to see Him as He is, to receive from Him His own good gifts. Hope is resurrected into something that is not about me at all. It’s about Him."

~ All that was Lost, meditation on the song by Michael Card

Two Daughters

 “Hope has two beautiful daughters; 
their names are Anger and Courage. 
Anger at the way things are, 
and Courage to see 
that they do not remain as they are.”
~ Augustine of Hippo

Comfort of Sorts

"That failed hope

doesn't prove the failure of hope

is a comfort of sorts."

~ Wendell Berry, The Handing Down

Like Dandelions

"let me hope like dandelions—

obtrusive and resilient, resistant to a fault."

~ Grace Kelley

read the rest of the excellent poem at her blog

Citizen of Another Culture

"Hope that is sustained with neither certainty nor comfort is rare indeed, because it must be based on something beyond the reach of our senses, and we are sense-defined creatures, every one of us. To have hope of this nature is to have crossed over some kind of line somewhere in our life and become a citizen of another culture altogether."

~ Lancia Smith

Burden of Hope

“We’re called to bear the burden of hope through the wreckage of a broken world.” 

 ~ Aedan Peterson

I'd Really Hoped

Have you heard the turn of phrase, “I’d really hoped that…”? This week was the first time I ever thought about it, because I found myself thinking it in a way that was much more intentional, serious, and literal than it usually flows off my tongue.

Usually, it means we’re disappointed, mildly. This week, it meant that I have hoped - really, emotionally, actively, persistently hoped. I have prayed, and desired, and doubted, and reinforced my hope by praying again. I have had so much real hope that it could happen that I have checked just about anywhere I could think to check, for news that it had occurred.

And so this week, when I think to myself that “I’d really hoped,” it is because I am so disappointed that it takes my breath away thinking about continuing to hope for these things. I am so disappointed that I almost wish I hadn’t hoped. Can you hope too obsessively?