It's my oldest world changer's job to fetch the corn for the corn stove that heats our house. The Lead Singer has gathered a bazilion 5 gallon buckets for him to fill at one time so the frequency to the corn bin is less.
It's a great plan, more work at one time, then you forget about it until you need some more corn. But that's not what the world changer does.
He's into the one bucket at a time journey. Which drives the Lead Singer crazy, but the world changer knows that the corn will always be there when he needs it and we really only need two buckets a day to heat our house.
Realizing that he can't carry more than one bucket. He just simply prefers to do this chore daily. His theory is that the corn will never run out so why do all the work to store it up somewhere else.
There is a place that hope is stored too. It's saved. It's waiting. It's set apart. Just for you. No gimmicks, no free with purchase offers, it's just there, stored. Waiting for you to come get it.
Take all you can carry. It's a never ending source, and it's ok if you drop some on the ground while you gather what you need. That hope will nourish the ones who stumble upon it, those not strong enough to carry their own buckets yet.
and when you leave the storehouse of hope
with your bucket for the day, you will find that in time that hope in your bucket has changed
into a faith in God that is strengthened and
a love for all that God created because
Hope doesn't just mitigate everything. It annihilates everything.
That's just what hope does.. real hope changes you.
"the faith and love that spring from
the hope that is stored up for you in heaven..."
Colossians 1:4
3 comments:
I love books with lots of pictures. I remember more things I read that way. I love this story. And I'll remember it, always! :) Thanks!
Kelly- I think you made the abstract more concrete and my brain can now better understand this verse. I believe the phrase hope "stored up for you" would have carried tremendous significance because of the time it was written. Acts 11:27-30 mentions that there was a famine in the land around the time when Paul probably wrote his letter to the church at Colosse. So "stored up" meant there was a place not affected by the famine- a place where there was abundance. The church people were tapping into this reserve and overflowing with faith and love.
After reading your post I did some research and I found out that the famine was a corn famine. Coincidence that you chose this metaphor? I think not.
Oh- by the way- I have a blog on hope if you are interested. www.a2zhope.wordpress.com
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