I had to shovel today. Twice. Living in Wisconsin can be frustrating. We have all four seasons but they don’t seem to be equal in length. Winter (cold, snow, ice etc.) seems to last 10 months with the other two months being composed of the other three seasons. Yes, I exaggerate but not by much. =-)

But as I kept throwing snow over my shoulder today, I was thinking about the warm weather that is soon approaching. It won’t be too long before I am outside wearing shorts. I look forward to cutting the grass again. But some people call me an optimist.

Yes, I am an optimist. You know why? Hope. That one word is reason enough to be an optimist. There are plenty of reasons to be optimistic (hopeful) in this world but we don’t have time to list them all here.

But hope can be fleeting. I mean that my hope in stuff, events, or even people can be broken or disappointed. That hurts. Generally speaking, no one tries to let me down or do something that would hurt the hope I have but it happens. Life can be filled with despair.

So what?

Romans 5:5 says, “And hope does not disappoint us,” The hope that is talked about here DOES NOT bring shame or disgrace. It DOES NOT put us to utter confusion. It DOES NOT disappoint. That is the kind of hope that never lets me down.

To really get the whole picture, read Romans 4 and 5. It will explain why there can be hope and what our hope is in. If my hope is correctly placed then I won’t need to live in despair anymore.

When my kids are fighting…I can have hope.

When my wife and I are in a disconnect moment…I can have hope.

When my job really sucks…I can have hope.

When my body hurts just because I am over 40…I can have hope.

When I have to shovel snow, again…I can have hope.

When my former addiction flares up…I can have hope.

When ________________…I can have hope.

I can have hope BECAUSE…of Jesus Christ. It is all about what He did. Whatever is happening right now is does not change the fact that Jesus loves me and died for my sins. Like I said, Romans 4 and 5, is a really good place when looking for hope.

For the rest of this month Hope is the topic.

So today, week 1, the Person of Hope is Jesus Christ

Until next week, have hope. Is your glass half full?