Seeds of hope

May 29, 2009 | My Jottings

For a long time now I’ve been thinking about hope and patience and how they’re linked. Specifically, hope in God and His doings, and patience with His timing. I don’t want to just hope, I want to hope in God.

Hope alone is like putting a heartfelt written message into a bright blue balloon, then blowing it up and releasing it into the air, fixing your eyes on it as it rises, until it’s just a tiny blue pixel in the sky before it disappears from sight, and wishing it will go someplace where someone will eventually find it and read it.

Hope in God is like writing that same message from your heart on a scrap of paper, and as soon as you put down the pencil, a huge hand comes down from on high and takes to Himself what you’ve written, and leaves you with a sense of peace and expectancy that not only were your words received, but are that very minute being ably and lovingly tended to.

Patience is diligently keeping in your heart and mind the picture of that huge hand taking those words, while the circumstances around you still rage and roar, and calmly and confidently waiting for the answer, the resolution, the change, the miracle, the whatever is needed to come.

Not long ago I received a wonderful drawing from a new friend I met at our local Community Bible Study. Her name is Shawna and she heard me share a while back about the changes that God has brought into my life, and my (varied) responses to those changes. She sent me a sensitive and encouraging note, along with a wonderful drawing she did, entitled, “Seed of pain mixed with seeds of hope.”

I had no trouble at all picking out which seeds are the seeds of hope, and the drawing is very meaningful to me. I plan to have it nicely framed and it will hang in our bedroom in a conspicuous place.

Seed of pain mixed with seeds of hope

I decided to assign verses to each of the seeds Shawna drew.  🙂

The seed on the left:  Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1

The next seed:  For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. Romans 8:24-25

The dark seed of pain:   We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed;  perplexed, but not in despair;  persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 2 Corinthians 4:8-9

And the last seed:  May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13

Shawna’s drawing is really a glimpse of what life is like, isn’t it? Hope mixed with pain. Or pain mixed with hope. The main thing I want to keep in mind, though, is that as I hope, I’m not just sending up a balloon and wondering if it actually reaches someone instead of going down in some remote woods, never to be found. I’m hoping in God. I’m putting my hope in Jesus. It’s the patience while hoping that I’m still fumbling with.

I need all the reminders I can get. Be patient, Julie. Put your hope in God, Julie. Amid the pain, there is still hope. Hoping in God brings peace and joy. Julie, hope in Him does not disappoint.

When I hang Shawna’s drawing in our bedroom, these are the truths I will be reminded of.