HOPE
In this busy season of holiday celebrations, I wanted to slow down for a few minutes to consider this word. We use it a lot, but usually in the context of wishing for something – of thinking positively. We “hope” something will happen – but there’s no guarantee.
But, Hope as used in this season of Christmas cheer is different, and it takes on a much more defined meaning that applies to us throughout the year. This deeper, fuller meaning is one of expectation; a certain knowing. All the details about that expectation may not yet be revealed, but the outcome is certain. The Hope of the World … the One in which we can put our expectation for bringing all things to right, for making a way for us to come back to Himself, for restoration and renewal – He came to us at Christmas! Hope was fulfilled then, and Hope remains with us today – we expectantly wait for the unfolding of all that is good and right, just as God has planned it. That’s worth a joyful celebration!
“Come, thou long-expected Jesus, born to set thy people free; from our fears and sins release us, let us find our rest in thee.”
(from the hymn by Charles Wesley)
This kind of hope runs deeper than just a season of the year. Not only does the gift of a Savior have a future, more abstract connotation, but He gives us hope today. We can expect Him to keep reaching into the world, our world (today), to be present with us.
What does this mean to us as artists who are drawn to the arts and creative expression? The idea of Hope is an encouragement – a certain expectation. An expectation that God is with us in what we do artistically; that it is valuable to Him (since He designed us in this way to express ourselves artistically); that what we do fulfills a purpose that He has given.
We may not know all the details of the hope we have. We may never know the impact it has, or the people who are moved, or the way we’ve enhanced the world… but we can be certain that by being faithful to keep working and growing and becoming more adept, we are exactly where we should be. We can have certainty (not wishful thinking) that our work matters and is fulfilling a purpose. Perhaps we, through our art, are one of the ways He continues to reach into our world!
Wishing you a most wonderful Christmas Season – full of joy – and also full of Hope!
“God showed how much He loves us by sending His one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through Him.”
(1 John 4:9, New Living Translation)
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Image: Light in the Darkness, Mixed Media on Paper ©2023, Helen Read
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