Waiting in Hope

I’ve been walking around my block more times than I can count during these past months. Some of you might be in places that are always verdant, but here in Toronto, there's quite a bit of brown before the green comes. But it’s coming.

I've been marvelling at the tenacity of living things. One hedge that I pass is covered in leaves that have held on through the winter, patiently waiting for the new ones that are still bound up in buds. (My brother or mother could probably identify the species!) Last week brought snow, and some very resilient tulips and daffodils, once bowed under this unexpected burden, have reemerged.

The hope of spring, even with the living promise of Easter, and growing expectation of some normalcy in these warmer months, has been a little shaken by yet another lockdown here. And so a recent read through Hebrews has been a needful reminder for me, of the patient hope that is vital to faith. The author reminds us of the invisibility of various objects of hope - the God who Moses followed (11.27), the distant promises glimpsed from afar by Abraham and others (11.13). However we are also reminded of the substance and surety of our hope - the God who has come near in Jesus, the one to whom we may look (12.2).

I have been asking myself what is making me so impatient these days. What am I waiting for? Certainly, things like seeing friends and family (especially my newest family member, across a seemingly impenetrable border!) Being free to gather without head-counts and masks and relentless hand-washing would be wonderful. I would love to get on an airplane. I expect most of us have our own lists these days.

Hebrews has helped redirect me toward the One for whom I wait, above all these other things while not excluding them. He is also here in the waiting, and is the reason I can hold on to a firm hope, ‘for he who has promised is faithful’ (10.23). The next verse seems quite relevant, as it calls us to encourage one another from this place of expectant assurance, as we gather together (whatever that looks like these days!)

I’m thankful to live among many who demonstrate such patient faith to me, as I seek to hold on when hope feels a bit volatile. And I’m also grateful for the simple sights on daily walks, this life that God has made, which continues to speak in a quiet but persistent voice.