Hope the best of things...

use Shawshank quote: Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things. Either get busy living, or get busy dying.

The New International Version Chapter 3

21 Yet this I call to mind

and therefore I have hope:

22 Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,

for his compassions never fail.

23 They are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness.

24 I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion;

therefore I will wait for him.”

25 The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him,

to the one who seeks him;

“We can’t manage, maneuver or manipulate spiritual energy. It is a matter of letting go and receiving what is being given freely. It is the gradual emptying of our attachment to our small self so that there is room for a new conception and a new birth. There must be some displacement before there can be any new “replacement”! Mary is the archetype of such self-displacement and surrender. If Jesus is the symbol of the gift itself and how God gives the gift, then Mary is the symbol of how the gift is received and treasured. Whatever God gives is always experienced as totally unearned grace and never as a salary, a reward or a merit badge of any sort. In fact, if you do experience it that way, it is not from God and will not expand your heart, mind or soul.”

— Preparing for Christmas: Daily Meditations for Advent by Richard Rohr

Jeremiah, Lamentations 2. God’s past Mercies as the Basis for Future Hope (3:21–39)

The unbroken mood of despair was displaced by a beautiful affirmation of hope in spite of suffering (cf. Job 1:21; Hab 3:17–18; Rom 5:3; 1 Pet 4:12–13). The basis for renewed hope is God’s “great love.” The Hebrew word hesed, sometimes translated as “covenant love” or “loyal love,” is a word that has the basic meaning of loyalty or faithfulness, especially as related to the covenant initiated by God; the word involves obligations to family, friends, and the community. Another basis of hope is God’s unfailing “compassions” (raḥămîm; from a word related to the womb, it describes the tender, caring love of a mother), which are experienced in a fresh and new way every day.

The Major Prophets B. Confession of Faith (3:19–39)

In the final analysis the faithfulness of God to his people was great beyond human understanding. Though this believer had nothing in the way of this world’s goods, yet he could rejoice because the Lord was his portion. The knowledge that he possessed God, and God possessed him was the foundation of this man’s hope. He was confident that the Lord is always good to those who wait for him, i.e., place their trust in him (3:19–25).

Outline:

go into the hard times of this year - we feel the writer of Lamentations.

and what do we do? we can have both - heartache and hope

Hope is not the absence of heartache, but it is choosing this in spite of the hard times.

How do we receive this hope.... let’s look at Mary

“We can’t manage, maneuver or manipulate spiritual energy. It is a matter of letting go and receiving what is being given freely. It is the gradual emptying of our attachment to our small self so that there is room for a new conception and a new birth. There must be some displacement before there can be any new “replacement”! Mary is the archetype of such self-displacement and surrender. If Jesus is the symbol of the gift itself and how God gives the gift, then Mary is the symbol of how the gift is received and treasured. Whatever God gives is always experienced as totally unearned grace and never as a salary, a reward or a merit badge of any sort. In fact, if you do experience it that way, it is not from God and will not expand your heart, mind or soul.”

— Preparing for Christmas: Daily Meditations for Advent by Richard Rohr

It's better to light a candle than curse the darkness