November 30 Hopes
“The hopes and fears of all the years”
Pray
Heavenly Father, when the world around me gives in to despair, may I find the reason for my hope in You. Amen.
Read _ Matthew 12:20-21
“A bruised reed He will not break, a smoldering wick He will not snuff out, till He leads justice to victory. In His name the nations will put their hope.”
Reflect
What do you hope for? People hope for so many different things – a lottery win, a good test result, a kiss! Often, our hopes are little more than wishful thinking. In our idle moments, waiting for the coffee to percolate or for the traffic signals to turn green, we speculate about what our life would be like – if only our numbers would come up! A contestant in a game show wins big and we think “What would I do with all that money?” And so we fool ourselves into thinking that a fistful of dollars would bring us happiness, or ease the aching in our soul. As those who have “won big” will sometimes tell you, money often creates more problems than it solves.
No doubt the shepherds, waiting out the night in a draughty field, near Bethlehem, had plenty of time to dream. Did any of them dream big enough? Do we? The hopes that God fulfilled on a Judean hillside, two thousand years ago, were for more than a financial windfall, more than the desired attentions of the village’s prettiest girl. The hopes of the ages were satisfied that night. Did a wistful shepherd dream about the coming of the Messiah? Do you?
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