Week 3. Day 4 – Love Makes Hope Possible

One Hope. Above all. Through all. In all.

 May the God of hope
 Fill you with all joy and peace in believing, 
 So that by the power of the Holy Spirit 
 You may abound in hope
 Romans 15: 13
   

Maggie pours a cup of coffee and sits at the kitchen counter opening her iPhone to check the day’s news. Scrolling through a news app Maggie wonders why she repeats this routine each morning. The headlines don’t seem to change from one day to the next.

“Clean Water Still Not Available for Families in Michigan”

              “Gridlock Remains in the Workings of our Government”

              “The Wars in the Middle East Continue to Escalate”

“Climate Change Intensities the Effects of the North Easter”

“Several People are Killed by a Shooter at a Bar”

“A Recorded Shouting Match Draws One Million Likes on Facebook”

Sighing, she closes her phone and thinks, “This is so overwhelming.  I used to believe that if we had enough money, enough knowledge, enough wisdom or influence or enough of whatever, we could fix the world, calm the chaos or at least find some way through it, but it seems impossible.  The weight of the problems is so large and I am so small.”

Into the quiet she prays and wonders, warming her hands on the cup she holds seeking to warm  m heart as well. “I do have a deep longing for hope, for love, to live love, to share love.” She mused.  “Given this reality of living in a world that doesn’t work, where can I make love known in some small way.”  With this prayer, Maggie begins her day with hope – for loving makes hope possible.

Breathprayer:

              Breathing in:   Abiding Hope

Breathing out: … encourage our lives.

Reflection:  Given your own reality when life doesn’t work, where can you make love known?

This reflection is written for the Online Lenten Devotion of the Southeast Iowa Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

www.seiasynod.org/lent