Hope is the ability to hear the music of the future.
Faith is the courage to dance to it today.
No, this is not a deeply theological statement. But “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1) The challenge of my life is to live up to my name. I am such a hope-less person. Seems like someone else should have been given my name. Maybe I should have been Dolores (sorrows) or Petula (seeker) or Tara (rocky pinnacle) or Brenda (firebrand). I have been known to sign emails as just-a-dope.
I was named after my mother’s friend, who was a missionary and a children’s Bible teacher at Christian conferences and camps. When my mother died, the people we knew were all taken away and we no longer saw family friends and relatives. It was exactly 30 years later at my father’s funeral that a very old lady came up to me, grasped my hand and whispered, “I am Hope.” I knew immediately who she was. I only had a few moments with her and then she vanished. My guess is that she is with the Lord now singing the music of the future.
Thank you, Lord, for being named after one that I admire and after one that my mother loved dearly. Now, may I somehow live up to my name and hear the music of heaven and live courageously within its melodies right now.
I don’t like Petula anyway.
