What I've Learned of Hope

it's this time of year that gets me.

trying not to think about the short days, the long nights,
the gray skies, and the dropping temperatures.

I know.
there is beauty in this barren winter landscape, too.

but during these few cold months I find it hard to hold on to the hope of that beauty.

right now it's easy to be filled with Christmas lights, family, and the joy of all the festivities.

but what about the following months of bitter cold?
how do we hold on to hope even through hopelessness?

what I've learned of hope is that sometimes our hearts are too
weak to hold it themselves.
sometimes hope does not come from within ourselves.

sometimes it is He -
He the ultimate Hope.

He who fills us, renews us, and brings us slowly, surely,
into His light.
into His hope.

"For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us." ~ Romasn 8:18

as we look forward to celebrating His birth
may we also look inward and find our Hope -
not in the things He has created -
but in Him who was created,
for us,
and may we be filled with His hope.

...love, anna...