Many of our friends could be described today by one word; that is, “expectation”. After all, it’s spring! The winter is gone. Spring is official because we see new life daily and new flowers blooming. New hopes will spring from many hearts because of nature’s ongoing promise of new life. Expectation is borne on the wings of the first rose-breasted grosbeak who visited us yesterday for their annual stop on the way north to Canada. It is just exciting to see new things like that daily during this season.
However, though spring may be exciting for some people, it will be the opposite for many. There will be people who will be more depressed than ever because they have no expectation of change for the better. Despair will deepen for those who know their dull routine is not going to end. You will hear about more suicides. The obituary column won’t report it, but word will get around.
Some who dabbed in alcohol for a daily “pick-me-up” in the dull of winter will now discover that they have become addicted and need that crutch just to get going.
What makes the difference? Is there a key ingredient to life being lived with expectation? I believe the answer is “yes”. It is not anything magical or a secret medication. It is the basic of the Christian truth.
Listen to Paul’s explanation in Philippians 1:20-22 (NIV) “I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain”. A great hope!
That faith perspective gives real security to life. It builds a barrier that despair can’t penetrate. When you live with the truth that your life is in God’s total providence, life or death, either one, breathes expectation. Even when the Evening News is screaming out the totals of people being killed and maimed in a war.
“Nothing can separate me from the love of Christ” (Romans 8:39) simply means I know that I am on the winning side and expect God to recognize it. A real expectation for Spring or any other season.
“A blessed hope, Lord, is what I need; not an imagined or artificial
one. Bless me with an expectant spirit today. Amen”
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