Because of Hope.

Ann Voskamp wrote that “The Days that are Dry and Brittle to Snap, These Days are Perfect Kindling for a Burning Bush.”

And I know that it is true. Somedays we feel used up, wrung out, worn out and without any smidge of creativity or grace left for even ourselves.

Some days we go beyond mere living and we live life abundantly. We walk firmly in our calling, heart held high– 100% certain of who we are, what we’re doing and most importantly, WHOSE we are.

 

Then other days our heart’s vision is a bit less than 20/20. Maybe it’s just a cloud of uncertainty in our calling. We wake up already tired from the day we have not yet lived and we wonder “why.” Those days can be tough.

Like the milk billows through my cup of Earl Grey and turns the strong liquid from clear to cloudy– We QUESTION what should be clear. We ask questions for which we already know the answers. Not just with the head, but with the heart.

We wonder if we’re getting through to them. We ask if what we’re doing matters. If we are doing enough. Truly helping. When there is so much pain in the world and our arms feel suffocatingly short, we question if we are the friend, the wife, the mom, the anything-– that this world needs.

Though those questions might be good for a time and a place, often they lead not to clearer vision, but darker views of who we are.

Perhaps we should start not with the ‘Why,’ but begin instead with the ‘Because.’  

Because we are known. Because we are loved. Because we are valuable to Him. Because we are his masterpiece.

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.”  Jer. 1:5

Because we have a purpose, and it’s HIS work we are about. Whether the job involves washing sticky hands or taking HOPE half way around the world, we need not waste time wondering IF we matter, but walk forward knowing THAT we matter because we matter to Him.

Not because of self-motivation and an empty thumb’s-up but BECAUSE—

“…We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Eph. 2:10 

And this hope that we have– it’s too good not to share. It’s too valuable to be buried in our own uncertainty.

Because it matters. It matters that we know the depth of the hope that we hold. When we are aware of how good this hope is, we cannot help but extend it to others.