If You're Feeing Cynical About Elections or Life...
Standing in the line at the voting precinct, I'm smiling to myself. There's just something about election day that awakens hope. But there in front of me I met a man who has lived cynical.
Cynical is easy to live.
He was standing in front of me and said that in his 57 years, this was the first time he had ever come to vote.
He told me that he watches eight hours of news a day, and well, maybe all that overwhelming flood of cynicism had done something to him.
But here he was, standing in front of me, about to sign his name on the register of people who had come to be heard, to be a voice that had too long been silent.
He said that he had complained about the president and the government but he never did anything about it, and so here, today, he was finally going to be heard.
And what I saw in those eyes was a light, like a candle in a storm, it was, I think,
hope.
We talked about our party and the candidates and the issues and all this hope of change and a better future.
But the thing about hope, is that it is only as strong as the thing that it hopes in.
And when we parted our ways, I wondered. This man who had risked all this, to find a ride to the voting location, to prepare for it, to come to be heard, to feel this hope for the first time, what happens when the thing we hope, doesn't happen?
When you've gone so long without hope, living and breathing this cynicism, to hold hope's faltering, flickering light, it's like breathing for the first time.
Taking that first long breath, after years of suffocation, and this hope is pure oxygen to lungs, longing.
But all this flickering of light, how do you hold it in the hand in the midst of a hurricane?
When all that you hoped for has become hopeless, and all this hoping is now only sucking blackness?
When I wake this morning to election results turned sour, that man is the face in my mind.
Where is his hope this morning?
And what is your hope when all that you hoped for is lost?
Because hope is only as strong as the thing that is hoped in.
And if your hope is in a man or a plan you're going to be disappointed.
But if your hope is the One that holds the whole world in His hand, then all this hoping,
it births light.
And God, he knew, that this morning the sun was still going to rise, clear November morning, because His hope isn't in a President, or a party, or a plan but in Himself, and He will never disappoint us.
Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God.
Hope that hopes in God, is never disappointed.
Its light doesn't flicker with the passing winds, it remains steadfast from generation to generation. Because He is the same, He never changes.
He is in charge, never faltering or failing, and all His purposes stand.
As I sit down to breakfast, I look across the table to the faces of my six kids, and in the clear November morning, I read them these words, "For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever." (Romans 11:36)
And this day? It came from Him. And all that this day holds? It exists by his power. And the questions of why or how could this be his plan? He says that it's all for his glory.
His glory.
Can we trust Him enough to believe this?
The only hope strong enough to hold a life, is found in His life.
So, this day, I'm hoping in the One sure hope, and this day too, I will praise Him.
Cynical is easy to live.
He was standing in front of me and said that in his 57 years, this was the first time he had ever come to vote.
He told me that he watches eight hours of news a day, and well, maybe all that overwhelming flood of cynicism had done something to him.
But here he was, standing in front of me, about to sign his name on the register of people who had come to be heard, to be a voice that had too long been silent.
He said that he had complained about the president and the government but he never did anything about it, and so here, today, he was finally going to be heard.
And what I saw in those eyes was a light, like a candle in a storm, it was, I think,
hope.
We talked about our party and the candidates and the issues and all this hope of change and a better future.
But the thing about hope, is that it is only as strong as the thing that it hopes in.
And when we parted our ways, I wondered. This man who had risked all this, to find a ride to the voting location, to prepare for it, to come to be heard, to feel this hope for the first time, what happens when the thing we hope, doesn't happen?
When you've gone so long without hope, living and breathing this cynicism, to hold hope's faltering, flickering light, it's like breathing for the first time.
Taking that first long breath, after years of suffocation, and this hope is pure oxygen to lungs, longing.
But all this flickering of light, how do you hold it in the hand in the midst of a hurricane?
When all that you hoped for has become hopeless, and all this hoping is now only sucking blackness?
When I wake this morning to election results turned sour, that man is the face in my mind.
Where is his hope this morning?
And what is your hope when all that you hoped for is lost?
Because hope is only as strong as the thing that is hoped in.
And if your hope is in a man or a plan you're going to be disappointed.
But if your hope is the One that holds the whole world in His hand, then all this hoping,
it births light.
And God, he knew, that this morning the sun was still going to rise, clear November morning, because His hope isn't in a President, or a party, or a plan but in Himself, and He will never disappoint us.
Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God.
Hope that hopes in God, is never disappointed.
Its light doesn't flicker with the passing winds, it remains steadfast from generation to generation. Because He is the same, He never changes.
He is in charge, never faltering or failing, and all His purposes stand.
As I sit down to breakfast, I look across the table to the faces of my six kids, and in the clear November morning, I read them these words, "For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever." (Romans 11:36)
And this day? It came from Him. And all that this day holds? It exists by his power. And the questions of why or how could this be his plan? He says that it's all for his glory.
His glory.
Can we trust Him enough to believe this?
The only hope strong enough to hold a life, is found in His life.
So, this day, I'm hoping in the One sure hope, and this day too, I will praise Him.
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