The God of hope

Now may the God of hope

 fill you with all joy and peace 

as you believe in Him

 so that you may overflow with hope

 by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15: 13

The God of hope; the God of the future.  Hope looks forward.  It bubbles with optimism, with the faith that the struggle will be worthwhile in the end.  Hope is strength; a goal to grasp, a reason to keep pressing on.

It's the reason I walk around muttering "eight more years" every time it gets insane at work.

I try to stop myself from doing it.  It makes me feel guilty every time.  I don't want to live in a fog of longing for the future, but maybe all it really is is hope.

There's a constant tension between living for today and grasping at the tendrils of the future.  Maybe there's really not much we can do about that.

It's a fixture of humanity that we can visualize consequences and imagine our place in the future.  We're not particularly accurate with it, but the hope comes in seeing that future in a positive light,  in expecting it all to get better.

Joy and peace are the gifts of God for today.

Am I filled with joy and peace when I have hope the future?

Do I have hope for the future because I'm filled with joy and peace?

The God of hope.

What an incredible title.  Not the God of  destruction or fear or punishment;
       but hope,
               the strength of life,
                      the balm of despair.