Thoughts: Hannah's Blog

Dictionary defines hope as “a feeling of expectation and desire for a particular thing to happen.” Whenever I think of hope, I remember one of my Professor’s definition of it. I don’t remember the context in which it came up. I think we were discussing something about long term goals and I must’ve mentioned the brevity of life and not knowing what will happen tomorrow. He asked me a simple question “Do you buy new dress for your birthday?” I smiled and said yes. He said “That is Hope.”

If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently. Romans 8: 24, 25 NLT

Recently I got to learn my own lesson about hope from my balcony garden. We had to leave home for more than a month, we stayed in Chennai for my sister’s wedding. By the time we were back, most of the plants had dried up and died. I uprooted those and started planting new seeds. My favourite jasmine plant had also dried up. But I didn’t want to give up on it. So I removed all the dead leaves and the small branches and kept watering it.

I had pruned before during spring season but this was end of summer. So I was a bit skeptical when there were no shoots appearing on the dried out branches and a tad bit disappointed as well. But after a month of watering, I observed new shoots coming up from the ground! I felt “This is hope.”

I’m not a patient person per se. Just because it was my favourite plant I decided to give it a chance and kept at it. It made me realise how much more patient God was being towards me. He hasn’t given up on me yet. Even amidst dry and dead situations, he still works in me. Reminded me of the song “Wait and See” by Brandon Heath.

There is hope for me yet
Because God won’t forget
All the plans He’s made for me
I’ll have to wait and see
He’s not finished with me yet
He’s not finished with me yet

Have you been hoping for something lately? Wait for it patiently and expectantly. Don’t give up. Strengthen the weak hands, steady the knees that give way (Isaiah 35:3) A bruised reed he will not break, and a smouldering wick he will not snuff out. (Isaiah 42:3)