It doesn’t usually take much.  A small thread, a gleam, a light at the end of the tunnel, a silver lining…all of these colloquial expressions refer to the wonder of hope.  Just one little ray of sunshine can take horrible circumstances and transform them into redemptive events.

Here in the dead of winter in southeastern Michigan I sometimes wish it would warm up just a little bit…and then they forcast a low of 8 degrees over the next couple of days.  I found this picture from last summer and I thought, “It won’t be too long.”

Sometimes hope lies in the ‘already-but-not-yet’ aspect of our faith in Christ.  Paul tells us that our hope lies in the very power that raised Jesus from the dead (Eph. 1:15-22) and which, also, ushered us into the very throne room of God (Eph. 2:1-10).  Past-tense event empowers present-tense fact and points to a future-tense reality of standing in the throne room of God, face-to-face.

Hope.  It is an amazing thing.