Hope in God

"You are my strength when I am weak, you are the treasure that I seek, you are my all in all."

Such a simple lyric that has been constantly passing through my head today. So easy to hum, but tough when our own desires are put in the balance. How easy it is to run to the path of complacency, the path of this world, that alludes us with an easy fix. "Instant happiness this way," it says. While the road to Our Lord seems like one that is heavy. Yet, why is this so? I ponder this within myself many times and find that, for me, it is my own stubborness and impatience. Why can't I have the answers now? Why isn't the road covered with roses? Why the thorns? Yet must we be so blind to not see that our very own Master chose the road with thorns - for us? Don't we realize He wants us to be happy? Yeah, confusing, but we are not called to always understand. Why are we asking to have a road of roses, according to our standards, when He had one of thorns? Do we think we should have a path any different than that of our Master's? Do we think of ourselves as higher than our God? Why do we place our standards on God, when He knows everything! Way more than our little selves. We cannot begin to fathom His greatness, what is it in us that then wants to place our small standards upon such a great God? Why do we try to do this? Is it pride? Is pride, rebellion, or stubbornness the root of that heaviness? Is it a lack of trust that maybe God doesn't know what He is doing? Doesn't exactly know what I need?

Before we even begin to answer these questions, we must first look inside ourselves. Where do we place our hope? Where do we place our trust? In the passing pleasures of this world? In a world that can be seen constantly chasing after the next high? As one of Stacie Orrico's songs goes, "There's gotta be more to life." And there is.

If we feel pulled in two directions, we need to step back. We must look beyond the feelings and emotions (vessels that at times can be used to blind us if we fall asleep), and inside to our inner desires. What will fulfill my soul's longing? It can't possibly be the things of this world. All I have to do is look to things I had chased before thinking those would make me "whole" and see that obviously they haven't because well, here I am, stil left pondering. So what is more constant? What is more fulfilling? God. He is the only one. We just need to let go. Let go of our fleeting desires for instant happiness and strive for eternal joy. Happiness is a passing thing of this world, one brought about by those passing moments in life and defined by good feelings, but joy - joy is a decision, a form of being, an action. We can chose to be joyful in all things, even in those times when we may not feel so good, how? By placing our hope in God. If we have our hope in God, in His goodness, in His decisions in our lives, than we can be joyful in even those moments where we are troubled or just feel down. Yes, even in sadness we can have joy. Why? Because we can be excited to know that He has control and knows what He is doing. We must not let our human minds deceive us, or rather, let the evil one deceive us, by telling us that the past is going to be the best thing we can ever imagine. No. There is a future and God is in charge. Get excited! God is in charge and has a great plan for you! Just trust. Hope in God. And feel that joy again knowing that the future ahead is better than any past.

Alright, so how do we chose this every day? How do we refocus our hope in God? Well, I don't have a long, convoluted answer. It's actually quite simple, but involves our acceptance. We refocus our hope in God by first accepting that He loves us, no matter what. This is something we need to actively accept. Only then can we tackle the second part, this may be the hardest of all because it involves letting go of our own "plans" of happiness, and that is, to realize and accept that God truly wants what is best for us. He wants what is best for us! Just think of this for a second. God wants what is best for me? Me? That's amazing! We need to remind ourselves of this reality, this fact, this truth. We must not let ourselves be blinded but rather just let the passing feelings and emotions go by, because they will, that's what they do, and remember that our hope in God means our salvation, our joy, and yes, our happiness. There is so much more ahead if we are with God, and today shall pass like yesterday, while tomorrow will be yet another chance to say yes to God, and yes to a future of fulfillment and hope.

Hope in God. He loves you. He loves me. Drop the weight and let go.