Are You Expecting?

Wow, I can't begin to tell you how good it is to see you, dear friends!

I had no idea when I'd ever be back in the saddle again, laptop open and active.  And then when I started to think about returning, well, the sky fell in and life shifted drastically.  

More about that another day.

I realized I was yearning to hear your 2 cents, wisdom, observations, and insight again.  To cultivate encouragement and a deeper faith in Christ through our shared conversation and community.

I admire those astute and organized readers who keep a well-organized journal of every quote that grabs their heart and begs for their attention.  I wish I had done that along the way.

Instead, I have pieces of paper strewn about in drawers, ripped out of magazines, used as bookmarks, lost in a random pile somewhere.  But this quote from the recent Gordon College magazine, Stillpoint, was just too good to be tucked away. 

Whatever you have lost, whatever you watched dissolve away and whatever is yet to disappear in the coming months, please do not allow expectancy to go, too ... 

Gather up your strength, wrap your arms around hope and expectancy and drag it with you into the days to come.  There is work to be done in this new day.  There is learning and exploring ahead.  And there is purpose and meaning calling you forward.

- Heidi Forget, M.S.W., L.I.C.S.W.

I'm guessing that most of us have invested time mourning the loss of all we had hoped for.  Or have blindly forged ahead as frustration, fear, and disappointment have layered up inside our souls creating a bitterness, a negative antagonism, a jaded spirit, or a surprisingly short fuse.

Many of us can't help ruminating for far too long over all we've lost this year.  Vast changes and ongoing challenges have been the name of the game and have impacted us in almost every area of life.  Some are quick to adjust and move ahead, while others are having trouble navigating each and every turn.

The downsides of this year seep into every conversation.  This is a wearisome quicksand, an exhausting quagmire that has halted us in our tracks and slowly turned us inward instead of outward and upward.

This has nothing to do with faulty character or a lack of faith.  God has designed us to embrace routines and rhythms, serendipity and adventure, purpose and freedom in the company of others.  

But truth be told, much has dissolved away like melting snow in springtime ... and most likely may not return.  We can't reclaim the months, the plans, the dreams, the gatherings that we have had to relinquish.

But hope is the name of the game.  It is what God has called us to.  Primarily hope in who He is, His unchanging presence, His holy character, His gospel plan, His promises for the future.

So let's be honest about what we've experienced.  Let's continue to grieve and mourn even as we adjust and make fresh choices.  Those words expectancy, learning, exploring, purpose, and meaning are sheer gold simply awaiting our choosing.

Let's go there.  By His grace.

And if you are beyond weary and find that beautiful expectancy illusive or laughable, there's no need for you to be responsible for mustering up your own strength and dragging anything anywhere.  His strength is perfect when our strength is gone.  And the Lord specializes in carrying us tenderly and gently into a new day, an unknown season, an immense harvest field begging for workers to share His lovingkindness to a world gone crazy.

He is able.

Linda

See, I am doing a new thing!

    Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?

I am making a way in the wilderness

    and streams in the wasteland.

Isaiah 43:19

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joining Jeanne & Lisa