“Hope” is one of the most thematic words of my life. In fact, my book, “Driving Through Walls” has the subtitle, “My Supernatural Journey of Hope.” It really matters. Hope changes things. Statistics, mainstream news focused on fear, a culture of criticism and judgment, a world where war is seen as a “necessary evil” (by the way, no “evil” is necessary), and our own times of insecurity as we respond to our life’s situations, can mislead our hearts. We can get off track from hope. We mustn’t do this. Hope is one of the most powerful ingredients to healing, both our own lives, and the world.

Recently, I was talking with God about hope. It was a weekday morning on the couch in our living room. (Maybe we should rename it our “hoping room.”) Light was streaming through our blinds and skittering across the table. I began to think about hope like that. The light in the sky was full, but there was a tree filtering it’s arrival. It came to me as a blend of shadows and beams. Yet, from a place of hope, I knew the sun was out there, fully doing it’s sun-thing. That was reality. In my place of contemplation, I gathered four of our Scrabble tile coasters and spelled, “HOPE” on our table. This gave my soul a better anchor for my thoughts.

Often our situations are like that. God is fully generous, fully good, fully shining, but there are obstacles which effect the way we observe and experience that light. YET, if we allow ourselves to step back from the scene before our physical eyes, and see the reality of God’s fullness, of the fullness of HOPE, we are encouraged – we step into our existent power, ability, and potential. Sometimes, it’s a really hard act of disciplined choice to step back from the view we see. Yet, it is crucial. In the words of Jonathan Swift, “Vision is the art of seeing the invisible.” 

May you apprehend the timbre of the power of HOPE anew today. And may it apprehend you.