waiting in hope

Waiting in hope means waiting without seeing the result. Not yet. It means doing all the normal stuff, but being always ready for the Something Hoped For. It's longing for the day to come, but knowing that today is not yet that day. It means celebrating the glimpses of glory without relying on those light-filled experiences. It means trust, obedience, patience.

And contentment! 1 Timothy 6:6 says that "godliness with contentment is great gain." It's just a verse earlier that the writer says that godliness leads to blessing, but not necessarily financial blessing.

Right now, we're in a place where we have to watch each penny so that we have enough. There's just a little extra, and that's going in savings. We have school loans to pay, and it seems futile to pay rent x2. It's disappointing that grocery trips are $20 more expensive this year than last year - economy woes. It's hard to pay so much for gas.

But the money is not what matters - it's how we're living and loving and making time for each other. It's about the little moments of pure joy and blessing, about long hugs and sunshine through the window, gently falling snow, bluebirds, cuddly cats, and sharing music together. It's about remembering that God has blessed and is blessing us richly. That our character is being formed. That we're growing. And waiting in hope that one day, all will finally be as it should be. That all will be peace, light, joy, awe, wonder.

We wait, in Hope. He Himself is our peace.

We'll make it through this time, and we'll find that we are more refined, strengthened, made more closely into what we should be.

We wait in hope.