HOPE

Hope is like a bar of soap you put on everything you need.
Over fading stars, fraying strings and ropes, wrinkled skin and plans.
Polished beautiful, bright to the touch it whips life nice and neat.
Except for fools who hold too tight, too much, it slips from their hands.

Sometimes it's best not to hope but simply surrender what you want to hold but can't control to a future that can't be held, controlled or be made sure. Simply because there is nothing you can do about it, and simply boldly proclaim "Into your hands I commit my spirit".

When it was all done and there was nothing more Jesus could do as a human being he left God to complete the master plan and he literally died. I guess sometimes God wants us to do the same, And just let our desires die. That maybe in time he will fulfill them as he has planned, and as he sees fit, not as we have set our minds. Only to watch them worn out, or shoot out of our hands from holding them too tight, using them too much, or just grabbing the wrong bar of 'soap'.

In that light I suppose the hardest thing to sacrifice to God is our hopes. Simply because hope is all some of us have, but to have any hope at all we need to hope in him first. After all we place the hope of eternity in Him and after placing 'That' hope in him, I suppose we should be able to find the boldness to put every other hope we have in him (2Cor3:12) who holds our futures in his hands. (1Cor15:19) We have more to hope for in Christ than simply our resurrection simply because no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no heart can conceive what God has in store for us. (1Cor 2:9) But he WILL reveal it to us through his spirit. And i suppose once our motives are purified by our love and obedience to him, he will satisfy those deep desires in our hearts, and restore our souls. (Psalm 37:4)

Practically though for me especially this has been a challenge. I find that I like my hopes and my dreams, and I love how they get me through those hopeless situations. When I think of my hopes for the future, It's hard to remember in those moments when that hope fits like a missing puzzle piece in my heart that Christ is what Christ offers. Simply everything... and that he has a plan and future for me, even a future full of hope...(Jer29:11) But I cling to the gift of hope and not to the giver who is Christ, and often I find that I hold too tight and I either jump the gun or what I hope for slips from my hands.

And so the battle between hope and surrender rages on. Yet I find hope in this... though Love is the greatest, Hope and Faith still made the cut. (1Cor13:13)