Reason #14
I had Pei Wei for dinner tonight. I have stuffed my face with so many carbs this week that I opted for a salad, however, I still managed to "force down" a fortune cookie. So much for my keeping the carbs away. I have come to notice that fortune cookies have now turned into advice cookies. Rarely do I ever get a fortune, which is quite disappointing. I actually had a conversation about this with a friend this week, so I was hoping that maybe Pei Wei would prove me wrong tonight and I'd end up with a fortune. Well, I cracked open my cookie and the little slip of paper said, "Keep true to the dreams of your youth." Um... thanks?! One of my dreams as a "youth" was to be a checker at United Supermarkets. In fact, I practiced my checking skills each week as my mom brought home the groceries. With the TV remote in hand, I made sure to scan each item while making the beeping noise before putting it in the pantry. Some may think I was strange, I like to think I was creative. I think I'll opt to leave that dream behind and keep my current job. I had other dreams, too. Some of those dreams died with age and some with reality, but I have a few dreams that haven't died. I'm hanging on to those dreams hoping they do come true. Wouldn't it be nice if we could just crack open a cookie when we needed an answer in life?
This has been yet another interesting week. My dad has had some really sad stories to share with me this week. As I told you a few posts ago, my dad is a police officer and so he sees more bad things than good in his line of work. He was around some pretty devastating situations this week... 3 to be exact. I also had another interesting conversation at work about hope. I rarely have people openly ask me questions about my opinion on faith, and so I'm glad when the opportunity comes. I suppose I always have the opportunity to speak up, but I know I let a lot of opportunities pass. Anyhow, I began thinking about these devastating situations as well as my conversation about hope. As I listened to the stories from my dad, I realized that the one thing these people were missing was hope. Because of the absence of hope, these individuals made sad, permanent life-changing choices. They had put their hope in something or someone else and had been let down. There was no answer to their pain and the future seemed to bleak to handle.
We all face disappointments in life. We place our hope in our jobs, our families, relationships, money, fortune cookies, horoscopes, science, medicine, dreams, the stock market... and we all hope for the best. The problem with this is that these are changing, unstable, human, imperfect, unreliable things. We place our hope in the stock market, it crashes and we're left with nothing. We place our hope in our families and when a family member passes away, we feel so alone. We place our hope in our jobs, but the economy fails and we're let go without any notice. We place our hope in our dreams and then they are shattered we feel like a failure. We place our hope in medicine but after so many treatments, we realize that medicine can't heal everything and we're left with questions and anger. When we place our hope in the things of this world, we have nothing good to hold on to when the rug is pulled out from under our feet.
I had the rug pulled out from underneath my feet and I had to make a choice. Was my hope going to be in my human determination or was my hope going to be in the Lord? Was I going to place my hope in something fragile and imperfect or was I going to place my hope in the unshakable Creator? This is a decision I have to make each morning when I get up because I have learned that nothing in life is certain. Sometimes, I wish it were as easy as cracking open a cookie and reading a piece of paper that would tell me how my life is going to turn out. There are days when I want to place my hope in my own strength and knowledge because I think I know what needs to happen, but I've come to realize that when I place all my hope in Jesus Christ I'll never be let down. I'll never be alone, I'll always have more than I need, I'll succeed because of his strength, and I'll always been healed.
#14 - Because his plans are to give me a future and a hope.
"I see that the LORD is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me. No wonder my heart is glad, and my tongue shouts his praises! My body rests in hope." - Acts 2:25-26
This has been yet another interesting week. My dad has had some really sad stories to share with me this week. As I told you a few posts ago, my dad is a police officer and so he sees more bad things than good in his line of work. He was around some pretty devastating situations this week... 3 to be exact. I also had another interesting conversation at work about hope. I rarely have people openly ask me questions about my opinion on faith, and so I'm glad when the opportunity comes. I suppose I always have the opportunity to speak up, but I know I let a lot of opportunities pass. Anyhow, I began thinking about these devastating situations as well as my conversation about hope. As I listened to the stories from my dad, I realized that the one thing these people were missing was hope. Because of the absence of hope, these individuals made sad, permanent life-changing choices. They had put their hope in something or someone else and had been let down. There was no answer to their pain and the future seemed to bleak to handle.
We all face disappointments in life. We place our hope in our jobs, our families, relationships, money, fortune cookies, horoscopes, science, medicine, dreams, the stock market... and we all hope for the best. The problem with this is that these are changing, unstable, human, imperfect, unreliable things. We place our hope in the stock market, it crashes and we're left with nothing. We place our hope in our families and when a family member passes away, we feel so alone. We place our hope in our jobs, but the economy fails and we're let go without any notice. We place our hope in our dreams and then they are shattered we feel like a failure. We place our hope in medicine but after so many treatments, we realize that medicine can't heal everything and we're left with questions and anger. When we place our hope in the things of this world, we have nothing good to hold on to when the rug is pulled out from under our feet.
I had the rug pulled out from underneath my feet and I had to make a choice. Was my hope going to be in my human determination or was my hope going to be in the Lord? Was I going to place my hope in something fragile and imperfect or was I going to place my hope in the unshakable Creator? This is a decision I have to make each morning when I get up because I have learned that nothing in life is certain. Sometimes, I wish it were as easy as cracking open a cookie and reading a piece of paper that would tell me how my life is going to turn out. There are days when I want to place my hope in my own strength and knowledge because I think I know what needs to happen, but I've come to realize that when I place all my hope in Jesus Christ I'll never be let down. I'll never be alone, I'll always have more than I need, I'll succeed because of his strength, and I'll always been healed.
#14 - Because his plans are to give me a future and a hope.
"I see that the LORD is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me. No wonder my heart is glad, and my tongue shouts his praises! My body rests in hope." - Acts 2:25-26
This made me think of one of my favorite verses, "For I know the plans I have for you... plans to give you hope and a future." - Jeremiah 29:11. Uncertainty is a source of great fear for us Type-A planners! I am so thankful that having a foundation in God's word is a source of even greater hope!
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