This was today's Upper Room Devotional- so appropriate since we're having our first 'Preview' service for Hope Living Church tonight- enjoy!
Posted: 11 Jan 2014 10:01 PM PST
Today’s Reflection
HOPE OPENS SOMETHING in the human heart. Like shutters slowly parting to admit a winter dawn, hope permits strands of light to make their way to us, even when we still stand in cold darkness; but hope also reveals a landscape beyond us into which we can live and move and have our being. With hope, closely held interior thoughts are gently turned outward; deep desires, perhaps long hidden in secret corners of our heart, might be lifted up to the light. At times, hope peels back the edges of our imagination to free what waits underneath – a changed life, a new resolve, a yes pregnant with possibility. In other moments hope dares us to unfold a layer of desire – for relationship, for clarity, for courage.
- Pamela C. Hawkins
Simply Wait: Cultivating Stillness in the Season of Advent
From pp. 43-44 of Simply Wait: Cultivating Stillness in the Season of Advent by Pamela C. Hawkins. Copyright © 2007 by the author. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Upper Room Books. http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question
What are you hoping for? Share your thoughts.
Today’s Scripture
And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
Matthew 3:17, NRSV
This Week: pray for someone who feels hopeless. Submit your prayer to The Upper Room Living Prayer Center or share it in the comment section below.
Did You Know?
Are you ever asked to raise money for a ministry or other charity? Renowned author and teacher, Henri Nouwen, reminds us that fundraising is actually a form of ministry. Join The Upper Room and the Henri Nouwen Society for “Fundraising from the Heart,” a series of call-in telephone seminars featuring Parker Palmer and others. Whether you are a fund development professional or a part time fundraiser, you’ll gain a fresh perspective on fundraising.
Saints, Inc.:
This week we remember: Emily Balch (January 9).
Lectionary Readings
(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)
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