Lewis Smedes

 

I’m reminded of Lewis Smedes’ wisdom.  His words bring clarity in a world gone crazy with division and anxiety.  Our hope for the future is not a pipe dream based on wishful thinking.  Each of us must live by faith, hope and love each and everyday.  Our hope is not based what might happen this year or in the next four years.  Our hope is not based on the acquisition of power, position, or possessions.  Hope is not a self sufficient independent take up your arms to protect our property.  Hope is complete dependence upon our Triune God, taking action one day at a time to love and allow ourselves to be loved. Hope is having our eyes and ears open to His kingdom working in an inverse upside down manner, incomparable to any earthly calculation. 

 “This is where I find myself now on the journey that God and I have been on, at the station called hope, the one that comes right after gratitude and somewhere not far from journey's end. It has been "God and I" the whole way. Not so much because he has always been pleasant company. Not because I could always feel his presence when I got up in the morning or when I was afraid to sleep at night. It was because he did not trust me to travel alone. Personally I liked the last miles of the journey better than the first. But, since I could not have the ending without first having the beginning, I thank God for getting me going and bringing me home. And sticking with me all the way.” - Lewis B. Smedes, My God and I: A Spiritual Memoir