(This post was first shared on HopeSteamRadio.)

Each Christmas Eve during my childhood, I hoped with fingers-eager-to-tear-giftwrap that I would get to open a present. Just one. I knew some families had this as a tradition. So why not ours? Why wait for Christmas morning? The year my parents said yes, I chose a clumsily wrapped present from someone who always gave the most unexpected gifts. Not gifts for kids, but gifts for a young lady.

But before I share who and what, let’s talk about hope.

Hope is not something people can survive without for long. Often, hope is the only thing one can cling to during desperate situations. I hang onto the hope of a future justice being served when I witness incredible injustice. This hope helps me to let go and let God take care of it. It’s not our job to pay back slights or stabs in the back. God sees, He knows, and He wants us to grow holy in soul—not holier than thou in mind.

The best vessel to hold hope in is a humble and contrite heart.

Hoping for someone to get their payback is unseemly. Jesus prefers that we stay aware of any unsightly planks in our eyes. Keeping one’s eyes on the Lord will help tremendously with this.
Hope also helps us hang in there when we’re praying for goodness to happen in the lives of people whom we care about most. Believers know this life is just a grain of sand compared to the beach of eternity. There’s a lot at stake. But hope keeps us asking that God would open their eyes to His unconditional love.

And speaking of love, the gift I opened that Christmas Eve in my childhood was from someone I dearly loved, my paternal grandmother. Usually, she wrapped gifts while we waited in her living room. Grandma wasn’t punctual. Supper was usually later than our hungry tummies wanted. But the wait was always worth it. She made everything from scratch and served vegetables she had harvested from her huge garden.

Grandmother’s giftwrapping may not have been professional, but it was beautiful to me because she always welcomed us warmly into her home. It’s not the gift wrap that makes a present lovely, it’s the love within the arms that gave it.

That year, she gave me a set of embroidered pillowcases. It was obviously for my hope chest that I was yet to begin. But many years later, when she met my now-husband, she predicted he would marry me. It’s been over twenty years since she entered Heaven. One of my cousins led her in prayer to Jesus when she was dying in the hospital. I was so thankful to hear that my many years of hope-filled prayers for her salvation helped sow seeds in her late, but not too late, garden. How wonderful that my sweet little grandmother died with a heart full of the hope of Jesus.

I would like to pray Romans 15:13 NIV over you today:

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13 NIV

And now I’d like to close with a poem:

What more could we ask in life
Than to be betrothed to Hope
And walk with Jesus by His light
Upon His holy road.
~ wlm

Hope-filled blessings ~ Wendy

I’m nosy to know what your favorite hope verse is?

(The audio version of this post is available here: HopeStreamRadio.)