HAPPY NEW YEAR!

It's 2009 - - do you know where your hope is??

All over, I hear people expressing hope for 2009. I'm right there with them. There's something about a new year that goes beyond turning over a calendar page. It symbolizes a new beginning, a new outlook, and new possibilities. We have a way of "demonizing" the prior year so that ALL of our hope lies in the new year. That is where I must caution myself. Yes, there were many downfalls in 08, none of which I need to list here because you & I are well aware what they are. However, I believe everything happens for a reason. That reason, or reasonS, may not be clear at the time, but we have to have HOPE that things work out for the good.

For me, that hope is found in the Lord and the promises found in His word. For me, that hope can NOT be in world leaders, my own circumstances, or even the promises of well-intentioned loved ones. You see, those things are temporal. My hope is in that which is permanent, fixed, unwavering. In arguably the most challenging situation of the Bible, Job had hope, even as he stared down the barrel of life-threatening situations. He said, "You will be secure, because there is hope; you will look about you and take your rest in safety." Psalms says, "But the needy will not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the afflicted ever perish" and "We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield."

I look forward to good things in 2009: a new president, a new baby, new memories with friends, etc. And I recognize the SOURCE of my hope and all these good things and I say 'thank you' for the good times and bad.

1 Peter 1:243-25 (New International Version)
"All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever."