Last night before falling asleep, I decided to do some light reading, so I picked up The Atlantic hoping to find something interesting.  Article after article, though informative, all I found was “bad” news.  Suburbs and the new American Poverty. What the Recession did to American Fathers.  It was starting to get depressing, so I changed course and starting reading a few scriptures, specifically Psalms 145-148.  I went to sleep in a different state of mind, and woke up this morning wondering- how do I maintain this perspective each day, despite the reality of the world around me?

That’s when I stumbled across these scriptures this morning.

Don’t put your life in the hands of experts who know nothing of life, of salvation life.  Mere humans don’t have what it takes; when they die, their projects die with them.  Instead, get help from God, put your hope in God and know real blessing.  Psalms 146

As a husband, father, simply as a person, I juggle a lot like most of us do.  Sometimes, it’s too much (like for most of us it can be).  Actually, all the times it’s too much, if I’m honest with myself.  I like to think that I can fulfill my life’s purpose, all while being an enlightened husband, father, decent person, and the truth of the matter is I can’t do any of this on my own.  Probably the most freeing revelation I’ve gained from last year was the necessity of leaning on God in faith.

This is where hope becomes my strategy.  Alone, I can’t do anything about poverty, education, or any of the social ills I care about.  I can’t solve problems for other young fathers.  I can barely solve my own problems (in truth, I don’t).  It’s a tag team effort, with God contributing the lion’s share of the effort.  Here’s the best thing about hope: we don’t have to understand HOW it’s going to work out, we just need to be willing to believe it CAN happen and be willing to step out on faith.  Like you, I’ve got a few lifelong projects that are important to me (my children for one example). I don’t have time to worry about how they will turn out.  I’ve got hope to build my expectation for a positive outcome.

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