“Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
– Luke 2:11-12, NIV
When Jesus–God’s son–was born, he was not born into this world as a full-grown man. Rather, Jesus came as the most vulnerable of creatures–a baby boy.
Hope came as a baby.
Hope was vulnerable.
It needed to be nurtured.
Loved.
Tended.
Protected.
But as time passed, that hope grew into His destiny. The Babe was truly our hope and Savior of the world.
God may have already spoken and thereby birthed a vulnerable hope into your life.
God did this for me during the darkest season of my life. He made it clear to me that He was calling me into professional chaplaincy while my (now) ex-in-laws and ex-“friends” cursed my future.
I had more training to do. But I had choice to make: let hope die or tend it. You see, I could have curled up and surrendered that little hope God had granted me. It was not full grown.
Instead, I nurtured, loved, Tended, and Protected it.
Today, I walk in the fullness of that destiny. But it all started as a baby of hope.
As we remember our Savior coming as a baby this Advent season–I encourage you to nurture, love, tend, and protect the special glimmer of hope for a life-giving future God has given you.*
*I am not encouraging grasping to false, miracle hope in the face of a clearly unrepentant cheater. What I speak of here is the hope that we are given by someone who believes in us and blesses us. It is the sort of hope that cuts through our fears and gives us a glimpse of the life-giving future God intends for us.
**A version of this post ran previously.
