Advent Week One: Hope

It is week one of advent and I am trying to set my ideas on the season at hand.

I have always heard that Christmas is the busiest season in church work. Yep, the seems to be true.
In the midst of the many events and ideas, I am a newlywed seeking to establish holiday traditions of our own and make it a memorable season in our lives.
Plus, my task-oriented self just wants to get things done. Christmas cards out on December 1. Tree and decorations perfectly and promptly displayed. Wonderful, meaningful gifts (purchased at a great price) for everyone on my list under the tree and looking like Martha stewart wrapper them herself.

But, meanwhile I pray, pray, pray that the center of my heart is on nothing but Christ, our Savior, who moved into my world to show His love for me and to eventually save me. I pray that my heart will be guarded from all other distractions. I pray that I will know new truths and learn more about him this season. And if Christ is the center of my heart, it will be easier to keep Him the center of our home, the center of all ministry, and even the center of my todo list.

So, this week, in keeping with the tradition's of the Advent season, I have been thinking about "Hope."

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." - Romans 15:13

I looked at this verse on Sunday, after the candles were lit by one of my favorite families during worship at 2nd.
So, I see that trust leads to peace and joy. Peace and joy lead to hope. And it's all from the Holy Spirit.
Okay.
Makes sense on paper.
But then, let's flash forward to Tuesday morning. This idea of hope is on my mind when I wake up still frustrated and confused about a conversation I had with a friend the previous day. Where is the hope in that; in waking up worried? Then, I talk and pray with a friend who is going through a divorce. I have a long conversation with another friend battling bulimia. I get an email from one of my most academically accomplished friends, who confesses overwhelming feelings of depression and may not be able to continue her academic pursuits. Then, a coworker tells me of the guilt she has for not seeing her grandmother on Thanksgiving, because this grandmother is now in hospice care. I get the news that a sweet Converse and YL family I have known and loved is loosing their father to cancer. Oh, and then there is a leak in my ceiling in my office.

Where is the hope in all of that?
And if we first have to trust God in order to have peace and joy and eventually hope, then how in the world do I tell a hurting world to trust in the midst of all this mess? In the middle of this brokenness?
I know certainly that my God is the source of joy, peace, hope, and trust. He Himself is the author and perfecter of my faith.
But is just blows me away to think, that the Lord of All, would choose to walk into this mess.
He choose to come to earth.
To come into all this hurt and brokenness.
To get His hands dirty.
To fix things.
To love the unlovable.

What wondrous love is this? Oh my soul!