Our Hope

"Our Hope"  291/2" x 393/4"  Acrylic on Canvas

     Even though we have only just begun, we know the stress of winter seems so harsh as the season drags on, leaving the hope of spring as its only rescue. Nature sets quite an example in not losing heart over momentary troubles.
     During Advent we recall the time leading up to the birth of the Messiah and His promised return. He is our Hope in life as spring is the hope of nature. In this, our time of waiting, there will be a winter of intensity in our lives that cause our branches to strain and sometime split under the stress, but we can still have hope for what is to come. This hope is like spring in the way that it is sure to come and not a hope that is a childish wish.
     Place your hope in The Lord!

2 Cor 4:16-18 NIV
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Our Hope

With God our help,
We will hold out,
As branches fail their their leaves,
For a time not kept or seen,
With greater hope than that of spring.
                      - George L. Richardson