Do you ever have seasons in life where you feel like God gives you a word to place over the season you’re in? I don’t mean a word like, “Good word, pastor.” I mean a word like a word; one that’s definitive. Sometimes the word makes so much sense it’s a little weird. Sometimes, it doesn’t make any sense at all in the context of current circumstances.

Well, I do.

Early October last year, I got a new word. HOPE.

The season was fall. Autumn. The transition from summer to winter. Night comes noticeably, and sometimes frustratingly, earlier. The weather cools and the scenery, while beautiful, is actually dying from its previous season of life.

For me, last fall was the beginning of a new season, and not a pretty one. Earlier nights. More darkness. Painful, consistent stripping away. So why this word “HOPE”? I don’t know, but I began to cling to it. I bought a necklace with the word imprinted on it and wore it literally every day as a reminder. I began to speak that word into other people’s lives. I’d search scripture and read every verse I could find pertaining to HOPE. What stuck out the most to me was Romans 5:3-5 – Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, HOPE. And hope does not disappoint us…

I was encouraging (or trying to) a friend with this idea that one leads to the next – suffering > perseverance > character > HOPE. And HOPE DOES NOT DISAPPOINT. Come on! In the end, you get hope, and hope doesn’t disappoint. It’s in the Bible, for crying out loud! Her response was, “Yes, and hope deferred makes the heart sick”. Ouch…because that’s in the Bible too…

Leaves grow to specific shapes and patterns and then stop, simply because they are finished growing. You won’t see an oak shaped leaf on a dogwood tree or an elm shaped leaf on a maple tree. Oak leaves are on oak trees every single time. It’s called determinate growth. (<– Encyclopedia Britannica, #nerd) They grow to a specific shape and then stop. That leaf is finished growing. The seasons that you and I walk through are like that. They all have a finishing point. Determinate growth. Decided. Determined. Fixed.

The root of the tree however, has non-determinate growth. They just keep growing. Deeper and longer and stronger.

When a leaf sheds, it leaves what’s called a leaf scar on the twig it fell from. While the leaf is gone, it’s imprint never leaves. The evidence of it’s being is always there. Some articles I read online even said that as a tree continues to grow, the new branches will only grow where the leaf scars are… I mean, really!? The purpose of a leaf is simple. It’s to produce food for the plant so that the plant can continue on to grow into all the fullness God created it to be. After it’s purpose is fulfilled, it falls away. The same with us. The season will end, but it’s imprint on us will never leave. One season prepares us for the next. Glory to glory. So when you feel like you’re the leaf falling to the ground, cling tight to your Father, because I promise, He will not let you go.

“Hope deferred makes the heart sick…” Yes, that’s right there in the 13^th chapter of Proverbs, but you know what the rest of the verse says? “but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.” The New Living Translation says, “a dream fulfilled is a tree of life”. May He give dreams that lead to hope and hope that leads to greater dreams!

The context of those verses in Romans is beautiful too. Romans 5:1-5 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the HOPE of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, HOPE. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.

Hope is not for hope’s sake. As we sink our roots deep into the glory of God, we cannot help but HOPE because He has poured out His love into our hearts. It’s all about and for HIM. He is what we hope in, for and because of.

Do not let this leave you – But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; for His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. I say to myself, “the Lord is my portion; therefore I will HOPE in Him.” (Lamentations 3:21-24 ESV)

He is the Anchor.