Hope.

What is hope?

That it is eternal is all I really know (1Corinthians 13:13), and I have been thinkng about "Hope" for quite some time. 

Even when I do not want to hope for fear of dissapointment, I can't help but to. It can't be pushed away, or hidden...or squashed out completely....no matter what I do, it still remains...quietly burning...quietly reminding there is more than what I see...there is more than what I've known.

Perhaps, Hope, Is God's own ingredient to keep Him present. Present in my heart. To remind me when I don't want to hope, to "believe", or accept, that there is more...There is Hope IN Him...if not in the *things* I'd like...and yet still, it is okay to *hope* for the desires of my heart, for even in dissapointment His love conquers.

The strength of His love is the root of our ability to Hope In Him (not the strength of my faith, but of His Love)...

For His Fierce Love covers any anger against Him,

It covers all frustrations against Him,

It covers weakness, my weakness to continually trust...

it covers rebellion...

it even covers *severe* dissapointment...

And if His Love covers sin, can it not also cover my rollercoaster emotions and all the greatest weaknesses of my soul? no matter how fierce my lack of_____(fill in the blank: trust, strength, faith...etc), His Love is much more Fierce! MUCH MORE!

Yes,

His love

Greatly covers.

And with a Love so great, then can I not trust it's Eternal Sister "Hope?"

It is march. It is freezing here in England still, and yet, fresh green shoots fight their way to the light. Through cold, hard, dark dirt pressing in upon the new life, it endures. It has been called forth and so it pushes through. And to what "hope?" To the voice that created it? To the "knowledge" of the fresh sky to greet it or the "hope" of the beautiful bloom it may turn into?

 Or simply because it is...

it is created therefore it lives...

and everything else it gives, the simplistic yet increasingly complex beauty of the bloom, the scent, the color, the food it provides for other living creatures are but "extra's"...given by a gracious Creator, who is beyond capable taking everything that is needed into account...

So do I "Hope" in what the fresh green shoots may become? Do I see "Hope" in the endurance to overcome that frozen earth? Do I see "Hope" in the prescence of Life overcoming Death? Or, is it still in the Creator whom has created the life itself...Whom set by example the cost of life, the death that must come first (as to a seed- John 12:24), the darkness and pressing in of burial, and the conquering enduring Power required to push through and overcome death with New life!

Yes, I "Hope."

 In He whom first Hoped.

Who overcame.

 Who created and called forth Life from death and darkness...

I have no promise if my desires of my heart will come to pass...But I have Hope in He whom created Hope and 

... in He whom endures with love, because He first Loved. 

The green shoots stand testament of Him whom promised,

 Life will always conquer death.

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***All pictures taken from our back garden***

**the "Snowdrops" you see are actually an endangered flower. They grow wild through England and from what I have been told, are punishable by law if they are picked. How we ended up with some stratigically placed in our backgarden, I may never know...But I am grateful. They are very small, the size of one of my fingers, and quite beautiful, and have become one of my favorite flowers simply becuase of the "Hope" their fresh February blooms bring in the lasting coldness winter.**

"But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him,
       on those whose hope is in His unfailing love."

~Psalm 33:18

"Life will be brighter than noonday,
       and darkness will become like morning.

  You will be secure, because there is hope;
       you will look about you and take your rest in safety."

~ Job 11:17-18

"Find rest, O my soul, in God alone;
       my hope comes from him."

~Psalm 62:5