‘Fountain of Hope’
I’m not a gardener. I’d like to be but somehow, probably through lack of patience and perseverance, I’m not great at keeping plants and flowers alive, or that brilliant at helping them grow in the first place! But I noticed something in one of the pots in our garden (shown in the picture above) that caught my attention. In the middle of a cold and wet winter, there seems already to be new life emerging in this pot. And somehow, this year, in the midst of all that we are experiencing in these days, to me it symbolises something quite significant. It’s a reminder to me that even in the darkest of times, in the midst of confusion, isolation, grief, loneliness, and anxiety, there is still hope; God is still at work. God is with us and bringing about new life, new shoots, new possibilities, and a continual reminder of His presence, even in the midst of the winter of our lives.
As you look closely at these shoots appearing they look fragile, and life for us all in these times is especially fragile. It reminds me of the need for us to be gentle with others, to be kind and sensitive to what others may be facing that we may not see; it reminds me that we need to be gentle with ourselves, to take each day as it comes, some will be better than others, and that’s ok. But above all else, as I look at these new shoots appearing, I’m reminded of the hope that we have both for now and for all eternity as we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. He is our hope, He is our help, and He is with us. Some days we may feel full of hope for the future, other days we may not feel so sure. But nevertheless, God is still with us, He is by our side, and He never lets us go, whether we are feeling hopeful or not.
Romans 15:13 from the Passion Translation says, “now may God, the inspiration and fountain of hope, fill you to overflowing with uncontainable joy and perfect peace as you trust in Him. And may the power of the Holy Spirit continually surround your life with super-abundance until you radiate with hope.”
Today may or may not be a day when you feel ‘uncontainable joy’, and there are times when we all struggle to experience the perfect peace of God, but this verse does remind us that God is our ‘fountain of hope’, and the thing about a fountain is that it flows continually.
God promises to fill us with His presence each moment as we look to Him. He promises each day to give us what we need. And as we stay close to Him, and keep our eyes fixed on Him even when it feels dark and cold, our lives will be filled more and more with His hope, with His joy, and with His perfect peace. Today let’s look again to our ‘fountain of hope’, God Himself, as we trust Him for this day, and for the days to come, He alone truly is the Guardian of our soul.
