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Season of Hope by Lindsay Kyle I have heard it said that Christmas and New Years is the season of hope for us. Hope is a strange word, though. I hear people use the word hope for so many things--a child on Santa’s lap, expressing hope for a new toy or gadget. Hope for a young couple means that a troubled family member doesn’t burst onto Christmas dinner. Hope that perhaps next year will be better than the last for so many who have lost their jobs, their homes, their lives. Even Christians use the term hope to talk about the birth of Jesus, and how our hope should be placed in Him. What does that really mean? The intangible word of "I hope in Christ" doesn’t keep me warm at night. That sort of talk of hope doesn’t comfort as I face yet another Christmas in light of my brother’s passing. I want hope to mean more. Yet, I have come to understand that perhaps the word is misused, misplaced, and robbed of its true beauty. Scripture describes hope in raw and painful terms: "And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised..."(Heb. 11:39). Those Biblical people who faced war, prison, persecution, hunger, loss, and death--they never saw what was promised to them. Yet, they hoped. Not in circumstances. Not in themselves. Not even in Christ. They hoped that the promises of God were true. They hoped that God really is who He promises to be. As I sit, gazing at my glimmering tree, I ponder what this means. I used to hope for freedom to write whatever I want, without fear of hurting anyone’s feelings with the truth. I used to hope for a husband. I used to hope that my brother and I would finally understand each other. Of all these things, I have seen and lived some of them in my life. Some are lost until Glory comes again. Yet, simmering beneath all of those things is a softer hope. Jesus was really born, bleeding and screaming, into a cold and lonely world. This time of year is a simple season to remind us that God did not leave us east of Eden to wonder alone and cold. He joined us. Our hope isn’t simply placed in Him. It comes from Him. It believes that He really is who He claimed to be.