We all have at least one of these, right?  These catch-all’s of clutter.  Wooden, rectangular homes for items previously homeless.  I open mine and am met with everything from take-out menus to a random sewing kit.

It’s very easy for my stuff to get lost in that overflowing pile.  In order to find anything at all, I must remove and sort.  Taking them out, one by one and making another pile on my kitchen counter.  I rummage through the mess to find what I’m looking for.

Except that I’ve misplaced something recently.  Something unable to be found in any tangible place.

But I can see myself looking for it.  Digging through proverbial drawers, pushing proverbial things to the side, even removing proverbial stuff-only to go on to the next location and pray I find it there.

How did I lose it?  I just had it, as if it were in my very hands.  I must have set it down somewhere…so I retrace my steps to see if I can find it again.

What is ‘it’, you ask?  I’m glad you asked…because I have a feeling I’m not the only one who’s lost it.

The Lord spoke these words to my heart this week: You’ve misplaced your hope.

And He’s right.  As hard as I’ve tried to hold onto it, I confess I’ve put it in places it doesn’t belong.

In His goodness, the Holy Spirit reminded me that my hope is just that-mine.  If I were to marry my hope with the hope of Jesus, then perhaps I would find a hope that is always present…unable to go missing.

I can be a bit hard on myself.  So it’s possible I scolded my heart for looking for hope in all the wrong places.  Places such as my current circumstances, expectations of what I think my life should look like, disappointments and the like.

But we are all just human.  I think it’s easy and even feels more natural to place our hope in what we see, versus what we don’t see.  Scripture tells us Jesus came, not to condemn but to save.  So no more scolding…

And my friend, He also came so that we might have more than human optimism.

“Oh!  May the God of green hope fill you up with joy, fill you up with peace, so that your believing lives, filled with the life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit, will brim over with hope!”  Romans 15:13 (The Message)

“Green hope” sounds a little odd until you think about what ‘green’ symbolizes.

A Japanese Maple inhabits my front yard.  In my first year as homeowner, winter came and I thought this little tree wouldn’t make it.  It was so barren-just a trunk with sticks.  But I read somewhere, if you scratch away the hard outer covering of a limb, the color underneath shows you whether or not it’s still living.

And sure enough, my little stick-tree was green.  Beneath what I was able to see, I just had to scratch the surface a bit…dig a little deeper…actively pursue what I was looking for.  Reminds me of a certain verse…”Seek and you will find.”  (Matthew 7:7)

Perhaps this is how I trade my hope for His….looking for Him instead of His gifts.

Beloved….Jesus-hope never dies.  Jesus-hope cannot be lost.  Because that kind of hope is wrapped up in who He is.  He is alive and eternal and He isn’t going anywhere.