We can’t always choose our circumstances.
But we can choose our character and our attitude and our motivations.
May we choose to respond to our situations from a foundation of hope, not from an undercurrent of fear.
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This is day 8 of Practicing Hope.
When you’re scared to get your hopes up, remember this truth about God’s power and goodness.
[Download the square image here]
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This is Day 6 of Practicing Hope. It goes along with Day 5:
Do you have a favorite scripture about hope? Please share in the comments.
Hope can feel dangerous. What if we hope, and then reality turns out differently?
Hoping only for a specific outcome or by a specific deadline actually is not a safe way to practice hope.
As we’ve all discovered, our future almost always looks different than what we had originally hoped for.
But different doesn’t mean bad. Different doesn’t have to be faith-crushing.
Only hope placed in God’s goodness is totally secure, not hope in an exact result nor within a certain time period.
When we place our hope in God, that he will care for us in ways we can see and in ways we can’t see, we release the outcome into his hands.
These quotes below are by Shaka Senghor. Shaka was imprisoned for shooting and killing a man. He served 19 years in prison in Michigan. He could have rejected hope for the future because of his past.
But hope is unchained by God to roam free in each of our lives. Hope isn’t imprisoned by our past. Hope illuminates our future by redefining our present with confidence.
Read this excerpt from Shaka’s book, Writing My Wrongs: Life, Death, and Redemption in an American Prison. And if you have time, read the whole book. You’ll find hope for yourself there, too. [See more quotes here in my book review—Writing My Wrongs was one of my top 10 books of 2016.]
“And that’s the thing about hope. In the moment when you feel it, it can seem foolish or sentimental or disconnected from reality. But hope knows that people change on a timeline that we can’t predict.
We can never know the power that a word of kindness or an act of forgiveness will have on the person who needs it most.
What I now know is that my life could have had many outcomes; that it didn’t need to happen the way it did. I was once an angry, lost teenager holding a community hostage to fear and greed. Thousands of youth are making the same mistakes every day.
But we weren’t born that way. None of our children are born that way. And when they get that way, they aren’t lost for good.
That’s why I’m asking you to envision a world where men and women aren’t held hostage to their pasts, where misdeeds and mistakes don’t define you for the rest of your life. In an era of record incarcerations and a culture of violence, we can learn to love those who no longer love themselves.
Together, we can begin to make things right.”
Shaka Senghor discusses his book, “Writing My Wrongs: Life, Death, and Redemption in an American Prison” at the 2016 L.A. Times Festival of Books.
Ask yourself today what makes you afraid to hope. (Personally, I’m afraid of being disappointed.)
Whatever your reasons, dig deeper into them. Ask God to reveal the lie you are believing. (My lie? That if my expectations aren’t met, God’s goodness won’t be enough to compensate.)
The more we learn to practice safe hope—hope in God, not in a specific outcome—the sooner we can lose our fear of hoping.
Hope isn’t dangerous. Hope is good.
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Are you too often afraid to get your hopes up? What do you fear? Please share in the comments.
See More:
This is Day 5 of my series, Practicing Hope. See all the posts here. I’m participating in #Write28Days with Anita.
I’m writing every day this month on “Practicing Hope.” So look for hope in more places here on my monthly round-up.
What did you enjoy in January? What are you hoping for in February?
[If you can’t see the 1 Second Everyday video, click here]
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• Need to Improve Your Mood?
by Emily Price
Step outside for 5 minutes. A simple dose of hope is often right outside our door. Researchers are proving what we already know intuitively: going outside for even a few minutes really can lift our spirits.
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• Why It Pays to Declutter Your Digital Life
by Kelly Oakes
I can often lose hope when I look at my digital photos—I have too many! Maybe it’s emails for you. Or folders on your PC desktop. Digital hoarding can be just as debilitating as physical hoarding. But there’s hope. Set aside time regularly to regain control of your digital clutter. [Here’s a book that helped me; I need to reread it.]
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• Intellectual Humility: The Importance of Knowing You Might Be Wrong
by Brian Resnick
Don’t lose hope if you think you might be wrong about something. It’s actually a good thing! The hardest part might be uncovering our blind spots. But it’s worth it.
The classic Dunning-Kruger finding: People who perform worst on a task are supremely overconfident in their ability to perform that task. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
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• How to Configure Your iPhone to Work for You, Not Against You
by Coach Tony
This is a very, very thorough guide to getting more out of your iPhone. The explanations are clear and illustrated. I’m doing a few things each week. And loving the changes. I’ve recently switched to a swiping keyboard for typing. There’s a learning curve, but it’s already a much quicker way to text and type on my phone (although if you get a weird message from me, know I still make a lot of errors).
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• Valentine’s Day When Married
This is definitely Jeff and me. For Valentine’s Day. Anniversary. Birthdays. We both hate to shop and don’t care about gifts, so it works for us.
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• Abridge, Too Far
by Jamie Todd Rubin
I can’t exactly put my finger on it, but I feel like I’d be cheating myself out of something valuable if I used a service like Blinkist to give me the 15-minute version of the best books. (I never could let myself my parents’ Reader’s Digest Condensed Books for the same reason.) But it could be useful in deciding what to read later in full. Your thoughts?
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• Marie Kondo Doesn’t Really Want You to Throw Away Your Books
by Lisa Respires France
The internet got angry at the suggestion by Marie Kondo to keep 30 books. This article tells what she might have meant instead.
Because really . . . just 30 books?
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• ‘Collusion,’ ‘Ghosting,’ ‘POTUS’ Top List of Banished Words for 2019
by Doug Criss
Also includes ‘wheelhouse,’ ‘wrap my head around,’ and ‘in the books.’
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• 2 New (to me) Christian Podcasts
I’ve recently discovered these two podcasts and have been binge-listening. They give me hope that followers of Christ are staying relevant in our current culture.
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• 10 Books I Recommend + Video
Here are 4 novels and 6 non-fiction books I really enjoyed last month. They all provide hope in their own unique way.
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Anita is doing a #Write28Days series this month (replaces the #Write31Days in October that has retired). I’m writing on how to actually practice hope as a spiritual discipline. (I *hope* I can keep up! lol). Hope is also my One Word for 2019 so it will be good for me.
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• Tree-a-Month
In 2017, I took a picture of our backyard every month. In 2018 I focused on just one tree every month. The nuance basically happens just a few weeks out of the year as seasons change. For 2019? I’m just looking, not snapping. And excited that spring will be here soon with full greenery again.
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• Special Weekend Visitor
We loved having our grandbaby visit a weekend ago. Time with her is always fun.
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• Then She Turned 1!
I’m not sure how this happened, but we’ve been grandparents for a full year now! Having the best time!
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• Future Piano Player?
I’m hoping she’ll be the next pianist in the family, if she enjoys it like she does now. Many little (and big) fingers have played our old piano.
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• Ordinary Is Underrated – The Ministry of Ordinary Places
Don’t think you always have to go big. Sometimes the most magic happens when you go small. Review of Shannan Martin’s book, The Ministry of Ordinary Places.
• Connect Your Dots
Are you connecting the dots in your life? They can help us discover the bigger picture. Here are three dots in this season for me.
• What If You Have to Go Backward to Go Forward?
Going backward is not what we like to do. But what if going back to the beginning is the best way to make forward progress?
• You Might Be an Introvert If . . .
You might be an introvert if . . . you have friends who talk more than you do, you prefer texts to phone calls, etc. Thoughts from Susan Cain’s, Quiet.
• Resist and Persist – An Important Book for Our Times
What role should people of faith be playing in the fight for equality? Erin Wathen lays it out plainly in Resist and Persist.
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What was a highlight from your January? What are you looking forward to in February? Please share in the comments.
See all the Practicing Hope posts here.
The Bible is full of scriptures about hope. We’ll look at several throughout this series on “Practicing Hope.” Get all the posts here.
Download this image [click here to get the instagram version] to help you remember to use hope as your anchor in this new week. Memorize it to more fully embed it into your heart.
Also, look around you this week to discover anchors in clothing, jewelry, tattoos, advertising, etc. Every time you see an anchor, thank God for being your hope, your anchor, in every storm. Read this for more on anchors as symbols of hope.
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Do you have any jewelry or clothes with an anchor? Please share your thoughts in the comments.
What are symbols we use for hope?
Every day in February we’ll look at a different activity for “Practicing Hope.” On Saturdays we’ll examine a different symbol that represents hope. And how we can use it to strengthen our hope.
The anchor is a very ancient symbol of hope because of its function. Normally made of metal and connected to a rope or chain, an anchor is what holds a ship in place by digging into the bed of the water under the ship. It prevents the ship from drifting, which would naturally occur due to wind or current.
A Christian believer’s hope, our anchor, is based on God’s faithfulness and goodness. His promise to take care of us won’t be broken. Regardless of the waves of life that beat against us, we have
“an unbreakable spiritual lifeline, reaching past all appearances right to the very presence of God” (Hebrews 6:19, Message).
The early Christians who were persecuted by the Romans drew anchors inside the catacombs, representing Christ as a symbol of safety. It’s said they also wore anchor jewelry or had anchor tattoos to identify themselves as Christians or to mark safe houses for those needing to escape from persecution.
In modern days we’ve often seen sailors and fishermen who have anchors tattooed on their forearms. Including the infamous Popeye.
As we sail through the remainder of the week, let’s put down our anchor to embed into the promises of God.
Envision a current storm in your life. Then connect a promise of God to help you stay the course. Anchor your hope there. Allow God’s faithfulness and goodness to hold you steady. (Find over 50 promises here.)
No matter how rough the storm, you won’t drown in it.
One of my favorite promises is found in Isaiah 43:2-3:
“When you’re in over your head, I’ll be there with you. When you’re in rough waters, you will not go down. When you’re between a rock and a hard place, it won’t be a dead end—
Because I am GOD, your personal God, The Holy of Israel, your Savior. I paid a huge price for you.”
Also, find your own spiritual analogies to anchors here in this 1-minute video of different types of anchors.
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Find the whole series here on Practicing Hope.
