Hope

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Hope. It’s sad that the meaning of that wonderful word has been watered down to mean nothing more than a wish. When we say, “I certainly hope so,” what we may really mean is “This is what I would like to happen, but I don’t know if it will or not.”

Englishwoman Ann Stubbs completed this sampler in 1808. Hope is its theme. The poem on this pretty sampler reads:

Hope is the first great blessing here below
The only balm to heal corroding woe.
It is the staff of age, the sick man’s health,
The prisoner’s freedom and the poor man’s wealth,
The sailor’s safety lasting as our breath,
It still holds on, nor quits us e’en in death.

The hope God gives us is not a wish. It is a reality, a certainty.

Wishes can disappoint us, but hope does not.

. . . we also exult in our tribulations,
knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; 
and perseverance, proven character;
and proven character, hope; 
and hope does not disappoint,
because the love of God has been
poured out within our hearts
through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
Romans 5:3b-5

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