"Living Hope"

1 Peter 1: 3-9
Praise to God for a Living Hope :
(3) Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, (4) and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, (5) who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. (6) In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. (7) These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. (8) Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, (9) for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

I've been thinking a lot lately about what it takes to stay focused on our goals and committed to the things in this life that God has given us responsibility over. I feel I have accepted the roller coasters of emotion that will inevitably follow us on this journey, but I find myself asking 'why' and 'how' a lot. When these questions pop in my head I feel a bit like a failure, but I understand at the same time, that it is normal, and like I said...seemingly inevitable. However, I think the real issue comes when we are consumed by the questions. I think that consumption of anything can rob us of what it takes to stay motivated, focused and committed to the things that God has for us.

I've thought a lot lately about maintaining a 'balance of perspective'. There are so many highs and lows, changes and adjustments, burdening anticipation coupled with tremendous joy. While our lives have taken on new meaning and a new normal...there are days where I catch myself in shock over where we are and the things that we are dealing with. Obviously I can't live my life "in shock", but I also don't feel like it is necessarily healthy to settle into a place of assumption that what we are going through is normal. I feel like I am always learning such unique lessons about life and about what it means to have a "living hope". Our lives have entered a realm in which we cannot ignore the situations and circumstances that are painfully beyond what we are dealing with, but I also struggle with the ever-growing category of things becoming trivial. There is guilt over feeling such sadness for others when our situation pales in comparison to those around us, but there is also frustration and resentment when navigating the trivial that seems to surround us, as well. This is the balancing act that can at times, consume my mind. Guilt and sadness and frustration and resentment do not even come close to resembling the "living hope" that comes from a genuineness of faith.

I want to be healthy, I always want to be pursuing better: for my husband, for my children and for my family and friends. I want to be in tune with my emotions, good or bad, and always recognize where I am at, in order to come out on the other side. Like I said, I have been thinking a lot about how to keep a balance of perspective in my life and about my life. What I have realized, is that maybe the effort to achieve 'balance' has begun to consume me. Acknowledging that there will always be things harder than what we are dealing with, is healthy. Acknowledging that things that once seemed significant, might now be more trivial, is healthy. Living in fear that at any point along the way I might become imbalanced, is not. I don't believe that God calls me to be responsible for maintaining an appropriate 'worldly' balance in my life, I do believe that He calls me to have a genuinesness of faith and a living hope.

All in all, I've realized that in my life and on this journey, I need to spend more of my efforts on God's promises and spend less time being consumed with where I feel like I should be emotionally and in terms of the world around me. I have promises that go beyond this world around me. I have commitments that require me to stay motivated and focused. The balance is not over my feelings of guilt or resentment...the balance for me, is choosing a living hope, to navigate this life God has planned for me.

~Whitney