Hope

Hope - 1. To wish for something with expectation of its fulfilment.

2.  To have confidence; trust.

v.tr.

1. To look forward to with confidence or expectation

2. To expect and desire. 

n.

1. A wish or desire accompanied by confident expectation of its fulfilment.

2. Something that is hoped for or desired

Hope.  

I was thinking the other day about the season that I am in right now.  I call it a season because I know it will pass - it will soon pass.  But for now I am in a season of....  hope. I have a desire for something to change, I have something that I am hoping for with confident expectation that it will come to pass. 

In other words I am not satisfied with the way things are, but rather than wallow in what is right now - that thing that I cant change - i look forward confidently to a time when (I hope and desire that) things will be different.  

And I would rather live in hope than in hopelessness.  

I was thinking the other day about the term 'prodigal' .  And I supposed its meaning to be of a child who was wayward but had returned to his home and family - or is yet to return, confidently hoped for...with emphasis on the RETURNING.  

I wondered if it was linked to prodigy - an impressive or outstanding example of a particular quality - usually in terms of a child - 

or prodigious - impressive, marvellous, wonderful or amazing. (filled with HOPE)

so i looked up the word prodigal.  

I was surprised and taken aback by what i read.  It means none of that.  the word prodigal is as follows

prod·i·gal  

/ˈprädigəl/

Adjective Spending money or resources freely and recklessly; wastefully extravagant.

Noun A person who spends money in a recklessly extravagant way.

Synonyms adjective.   lavish - profuse - extravagant - wasteful - spendthrift noun.   spendthrift - waster - wastrel - spender - squanderer .   A wasteful spender, freely recklessly wastefully extravagant.   Imagine that. the thing that hit me was that all this time I presumed to know that prodigal meant one thing while really it meant another.   Imagine then if your story could change the meaning of a word or a phrase from something negative to something that inspires hope ... so much so that the original meaning is lost. .. The story of the prodigal son - a boy who at the know it all age of whatever, demands his inheritance to leave home and live as he pleases, rejecting his upbringing, his parents, his family and his responsibilities.  He recklessly wastefully and extravagantly spends the entire lot on parties and friends... good times, but when the money is gone, his friends abandon him and in need of food he winds up as a servant in a pig farm eating with the swine.  From there he thinks of how good the servants had it at his fathers home and wonders if he could be his fathers servant, they were treated better than this, and he goes home, hoping that his father will let him live as a servant in his home.   Obviously he had never been a parent, he had no idea the heart ache of a father or a mother for their 'lost' child.  He had no idea the sleepless nights spent wondering and worrying and praying and hoping.  He knew nothing of the sacrifices his parents had made of their own lives to allow him to take and do as he pleased.  He didn't see their tears, he didnt even think about whether they missed him every single day and he didn't know it was never about the money, it was always about him, whether he was OK.    How many times had his father watched in HOPE for his sons return?  While he was still far off his father saw him and ran to him, put a robe around him and a ring on his finger and had a feast in his honour - his long hoped for son had returned home.   What if your situation right now, that thing that you cannot change that thing that looks impossible that you have labelled hopeless - what if the thing you hope for with confident expectation of fulfilment is the very thing that brings new meaning to a word or a phrase or a season, so much so that the original meaning is lost and replaced by your experience.   Imagine - the word menacing to mean aiding and assisting             - the term busy body to mean caring and going the extra mile - helpful well you get the idea.  Turn your own test into a testimony - do not lose hope.   A friend communicated a story today about a man who always came into the place that she worked  grumpy and gruff and nobody could get a smile out of him no matter how hard they tried.  Yet she is lovely charming and persistent - a year later, he now stops in for a chat and says 'take care' when he leaves.  Persistence in doing good and not letting the current circumstances rule you bring about good results, just keep on doing good and doing right - what you sow you will reap.   be encouraged.  Turn your season of disappointment into a season of HOPE.  And never give up.

Transition

Phillipians 3:12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus

tran·si·tion [tran-zish-uhn-sish-] noun

1.movement, passage, or change from one position, state, stage, subject, concept, etc., to another; change: the transition from adolescence to adulthood.

2.Music.

a.a passing from one key to another; modulation.

b.a brief modulation; a modulation used in passing.

3. A period during childbirth that precedes the expulsive phase of labor

I am in transition. That period of time in between starting on a long awaited journey to a dream or a goal and seeing any results of my labour. It is deeply uncomfortable and until I recognised it as transition I heard myself saying regularly, I cant do this, I dont even want to do this... lets just go home, or back to bed, or on a long holiday.

But as I was walking yesterday, I heard the Holy Spirit whisper, 'its ok, this is just transition'.

Anyone who has ever experienced labour and childbirth will understand transition. It is the period of time - usually a short one - - a lull - in between the first stage of painful contractions and the second stage of impending birth of a much awaited baby. And in my case (having birthed 4 children) I recognised it each time when I would suddenly and irrationally suggest that I could not and would not do this any more, I would like to go home now please and start to move toward the door. 

That statement "I cant do this - I'm going home" always gets the midwifes attention, because they realise that you are right there... on the cusp, almost time to start pushing, and they skillfully and gently guide you through with gentle words of encouragement, or stronger words to keep you focused. Because during transition we often lose our focus.

On reading about transition (in child birth), the major emotional marker for this stage is GIVING UP. Have you lost focus and are you feeling like giving up on your dream or goal? 

Keep going...

This ONE thing I do....

Its a funny thing, we spend so much time thinking and dreaming and planning for a future in which we see dreams fulfilled, goals reached, lifestyle and relationships improved or feeling like we are contributing on a higher level or to a greater capacity - we set goals and we anticipate a prize. We set ministry and leadership goals. We set family and relationship goals. We even set goals for our health and fitness levels and we labour our way toward them. Then as we take those first steps in seeing the dreams become a reality, we forget the time chasm between the dream and the fulfillment of that dream. It is during this phase of transition, when we have started, but not yet seen the fruit of our labour that we are  tempted to give up.

When life gets hard and my dreams seem out of reach  I remember Joseph. He was the one in the bible who had the most incredible vivid dreams of his brothers wheat sheaths bowing to his and then the sun the moon and specifically eleven stars bowing to him..... A dream of greatness, of being in a position of rulership and authority... a dream despised by his brothers.

So they got rid of him. Sold him into slavery and for 13 years he is a slave and then a prisoner in a dungeon. So much for his dream. Then in ONE MOMENT Joseph came before the king to interpret his dream as he had done for the kings servants in the prison, and in that moment he was transferred out of the prison becoming 2nd in command of the entire land with the only person higher than him being Pharaoh himself.

I so love genesis 50:20 where Joseph says to his repentant brothers "You intended to harm me, but God intened it for GOOD to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives".

It appears for Joseph that he did not sit back and say woe is me... wherever he was, whether a slave in Potiphars house or in the prison he prospered and was put in charge.  He used what was in his hand at the time, not waiting for the time to be right or the dream to be fulfilled before he started.  He started where he was.

We cannot see the future. But God can. We do not order our steps. God does. He has a plan and a future for us that is good and fills us with hope, but it doesnt mean that along the way there isnt hardship, imprisonment, slavery, undeserved treatment, misunderstanding, a loss of vision and the desire to give up.

If He has given you a dream and a vision then He will surely fulfill that in you, no matter what it looks like right now. Recognise transition. It is only for a while. Persevering produces good things in us and brings about the fulfillment of a dream.  Joseph was perfectly positioned to fulfill the dream that God gave him.  Would you dare to imagine that the stuff you are going through right now that is less than your ideal dream future, is positioning you perfectly for the dream God has planted in your heart? 

One other of my favourite verses (at the moment)  is in 2 Corinthians 7:8- 13 The message bible.  It talks about the work of God, that there was sorrow, though only for a while, and godly sorrow that unlike the sorrow of the world which produces death - godly sorrow produces in us good things....

Lets Read it....

The letter upset you, but only for a while. Now I’m glad—not that you were upset, but that you were jarred into turning things around. You let the distress bring you to God, not drive you from him. The result was all gain, no loss.

10 Distress that drives us to God does that. It turns us around. It gets us back in the way of salvation. We never regret that kind of pain. But those who let distress drive them away from God are full of regrets, end up on a deathbed of regrets.

11-13 And now, isn’t it wonderful all the ways in which this distress has goaded you closer to God? You’re more alive, more concerned, more sensitive, more reverent, more human, more passionate, more responsible. Looked at from any angle, you’ve come out of this with purity of heart. And that is what I was hoping for in the first place when I wrote the letter. My primary concern was not for the one who did the wrong or even the one wronged, but for you—that you would realize and act upon the deep, deep ties between us before God. That’s what happened—and we felt just great.

So persevere through the transition times in your life.  Whether it is building new friendship bases, starting a new job or career, changing your diet, moving to a new area.... and remember that perseverance builds character in us and a hope that does not disappoint.

Romans 5:3 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope.5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

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start where you are

Its been a wee while since I last blogged.  Sometimes when we stop doing something that had been a regular part of our life or when we struggle to begin on a task we see as huge the thought of beginning can be overwhelming.  So it is with this.

Whether your goal is to get fit, or to start a new business, to see your life expand and grow or to make new friends, the beginning of it can be almost too much to think about let alone knowing where to start.

At the end of last year I resigned from a position that I had very much enjoyed and valued in order to take steps in a new direction and to begin a journey that we as a married couple with a family of 4 kids saw as a very positive enriching and right thing to do... something that would bring us all together on the same page and have us all batting for the same team,  our values aligned...

But this meant starting at the beginning of something else.

It meant leaving behind friendships and beginning new ones.

And yes it was and is overwhelming.  But in order to begin something new, you actually just have to begin.  Sometimes there is no starting note, no line, no markers and noone to tell you how to go about it.  So we just begin.  Where we are, with what we have in our hand.

And I realised that what I have is me.  I have a voice.  I have a smile.  I have a choice.  I can be an initiator.  I can start.

It is amazing how when you simply use what is in your hand how much God can expand that in a moment to be so much more.

And then the miracle.

With no job but a very strong conviction that I was on the right page and headed in the right direction I inquired about a certificate course in small business management with a view of starting a new business venture.  Excited we went to see the people who run the course.  But the course was full with many on a waiting list.....and the next available course also full...

I knew that this was my direction though and they gave me an interview the next day.  So with the course full and a full waiting list, I was offered  a place, and even better, a one to one mentored position, an accelerated pathway.... with course payment covered.

So it is in beginning that we begin.  Without seeing the whole road ahead, sometimes with just a hunch or a word or a thought or an idea.  We jump and and hope and pray, but mostly pray because God has it.  He has our future and this gives us our hope.

So with all the other things that are overwhelming right now, just remember, you can start here, right where you are, at the beginning and begin.

=)