Hope, Part 2

There is a yearning in hearts weighed down by ancient grief
and centuries of sorrow.
There is a yearning in hearts that in the darkness hide
and in the shades of death abide, a yearning for tomorrow.

There is a yearning, a yearning for the promised One,
the First-born of creation.
There is a yearning for the Lord who visited His own,
and by His death for sin atoned, to bring to us salvation.

Emmanuel, Emmanuel, within our hearts the yearning.
Emmanuel, Emmanuel, within our hearts the yearning.

There is a yearning that fills the hearts of those who wait the day of His appearing.
There is a yearning when all our sorrows are erased
and we shall see the One who placed within our hearts the yearning.

Emmanuel, Emmanuel, within our hearts the yearning.
Emmanuel, Emmanuel, within our hearts the yearning.

Do you have a yearning for the One who heals our broken hearts and lives? I talked about hope in my last post, and this song just seems to go perfectly hand in hand. Emmanuel. God with us. Talk about the most glorious hope. God came to earth, died, and - best of all - rose again! Death, the thing most opposite of hope, was beaten. Oh, death still claims our loved and not-so-loved ones here on earth, but it doesn't have to be the end anymore! And no other "religion" can claim that - to have a God who came back to life from the dead. I yearn for tomorrow, for the day when Christ's final appearing happens. I yearn for the One who has given me a new life and has given me hope. And so my heart resonates with this song.


(This song was written by Susan Bentall Boersma. I strongly recommend you visit the website below and listen to the song. It's beautiful. )
http://www.jwpepper.com/10276203.item#.UunD53kYRLo

Hope

I guess this post is coming from some things I've been thinking about recently... so bear with me if it's not following an outline, doesn't have a funnel-shaped introduction paragraph, and doesn't end with a restatement of the main point. (Forgive the harking back to English 102!)

In my field of work, I have the chance to work with people. It's one of the best jobs a person can have - to spend their time trying to help people. Granted, I'm sure most jobs can be somehow linked back to helping people. A fast food restaurant helps people get a full stomach (and probably a lot more than that, but I will let others expand on that one). A janitor helps people keep in a sanitary environment. But my job is to help people better their lives, and it's somehow a perfect fit for me.

Yet in the task of helping people and working with others, I'm finding that hope is too often missing. And it saddens me. I go in with the hope of making a difference, and then I hear someone say the person is just going to go right back and do the same thing again. And they might. I mean, that's human nature. Think about it. Haven't you ever come to the point that there was something you said you wouldn't do, or you were going to limit something... and then you turn around and find yourself doing what you just decided not to do? Come on. Admit it to yourself. You have done it. I have too.

This is where things could get depressing. I mean, if we've just admitted human nature is to do over and over what we don't want to do - or shouldn't do - why not give up. And I'll have to admit, I don't have all the answers to this problem.... but I do know one thing. And it's the most important thing. Hope can only come one way, and that's through Jesus. That might sound cliché. But it's the only true answer to getting out of the cycle of relapsing into old habits.

He's my hope. My hope for myself, my hope for the people I'm trying to help, for you.

I wish I had more time to write more of my thoughts on this... I'm just hitting the tip of the iceberg. Maybe there will come a part 2 after I've had some more time to muse on this subject. Feel free to add some comments below and throw in your two cents worth...