Hoping and Waiting

I've heard a few times now that in Hebrew, the same word is used for both hoping and waiting.  It's the same in Spanish, "esperar."  This is fascinating to me.

We hope for a better world, and we also wait for a better world.  We hope for Jesus to come back to earth, but we also wait for it.  My wife hoped for a relationship with me for a long time, and waited 8 years to see it happen.

Hoping for something almost inherently means waiting for it in this sense.  It doesn't resonate well with our microwave society.  We hope for something we want now, not something we need to wait for.

Perhaps it's in the waiting where God shapes us into who He wants us to become.  He promises to fulfill the hopes of His people, but it's always on His timeline and not our own.  The Israelites I'm sure hoped for freedom from slavery for 400 years before God delivered them from Pharoah's grip.

Are we willing to wait a lifetime for our hopes to be fulfilled?  Are we willing to wait till eternity to see our deepest hopes and desires fulfilled?  How counter cultural is that? 

That's not to excuse inaction.  If we hope for the Great Commission to be fulfilled, we needn't wait for someone else to take the initiative.  At the same time, we realize we may be waiting a lifetime of sharing the gospel and even longer to see that hope fulfilled.

Hope gives us a purpose to live for, something larger than ourselves.  We have our hope in Christ, and so we wait for His return.  We wait and hope with baited breath, knowing He will restore all things to how they're supposed to be.  We long for renewal as individuals, families, communities and countries.  While we wait for renewal, we also work.  Working is part of the waiting.  Otherwise you just get bored and don't contribute anything to the Great Commission or other worthy callings.

What are you hoping and waiting for?

New Year, New You

I know all the jokes about new year's resolutions but personally I appreciate the yearly reset.  It gives me hope and reminds me His mercies are new everyday.  Every day and every year.  If you failed last year, it's time to put that in your past and move forward.  Don't let your past determine your future. 

On a regular basis, I need to remind myself God loves me no matter what.  In spite of my failures, He's still crazy about me.  He lives me and wants me to put the past behind me and strive towards the future and what He has in store for me. 

We come past the shortest day of the year and it's exciting, in spite of the gray skies here in Louisville.  Exciting opportunities are before all of us, time to resolve to be a better husband and father.  Time to follow hard after God. 

So set resolutions.  And when you fail, remind yourself of His grace, pick yourself up and get back after it.  He is there for you in the midst of your failure as much or more during your success.  It's all for His glory and He uses everything for our good. 

Resolutions and Consistency

Being the eternal optimist that I am, I always start every new year with goals for the year.  I usually end up hitting anywhere between 50 and 75% of them which is usually satisfactory for me.  Some years I have too many goals and can't keep track of them.  This year might be one of those years.

The key to hitting goals and resolutions is consistency.  This is why dieting is so hard for me.  In certain areas I'm very consistent, eating not so much.  I wondered aloud the other day to a friend why it is that I'm consistent in many areas of my life except food.  He said that would be something to dive into possibly.

For instance, last year I set a goal of losing 25 pounds.  By the end of 2019 I still had 26 to go, d'oh!  It was 30 before I spent a week at my inlaws where I usually drop 5 pounds from being on their keto diet short term.  I don't think keto is healthy long term though and I don't want to yo yo so I just stay away from it.

I need to do something different though.  I've started intermittent fasting which is helpful for feeling like I'm in more control than usual as far as diet stuff.  Now I need to remember what I eat during my eating window is just as important as not eating for the 16 hour window.

There are many books out there about self development that basically say the same thing.  Habits, when repeated, compound and lead to big results, either for good or bad.  We shape our habits, and then our habits shape us.

So, I'm trying to gain healthy habits in addition or alongside of weight loss.  Without habits I'll just keep yo yoing like I have in the past.

Here's to seeing 2020 in the New Year  ;)