Hope remains

I have to say, lately going to church has felt like more of a duty than anything - because I work for them the lines seemed to get blurred on a Sunday and sometimes it feels like 'just another day in the office'.  But I did drag myself out of bed this Sunday, and I was really glad that I did.  To me it seemed like it was what a church service should be... honest, real, with lots of people sharing their thoughts/hopes/joys/struggles/prayers; being thankful for many blessings yet admitting that things aren't all perfect and easy, but encouraging each other to keep on keeping on... because in the midst of trouble and uncertainty, we remember together what the God we follow is like, and remember that He's bigger than all the the things we're going through, and that He loves us, and doesn't let go. 

During the meeting, one lady sang a song she'd written, which was so honest and beautiful.  It was about hope and struggle and gratitude and walking the line between light and dark, life and death...

It reminded me of something I've written recently about hope.  I wrote it for Wordlive, and it'll be published on their website in May this year:

Sunlight creeping in through a crack in the wall

Birdsong spilling into prison cell

Lights of home on the horizon

The rock clung to so as not to be washed away

Anchor for souls

The hand that holds the kite string, keeping it from being blown into obscurity

Unseen certainty

Fixed point in motion

Whispered promise

A spark in the depths

The belief that tomorrow might be different

That now is not forever

But that today could affect eternity

Our necessary companion in the darkness

Making valid the phrase ‘not yet’ – because one day

One day

Rescue will come

So we clench our fists

And grit our teeth

And set our eyes ahead

And keep on

And keep on

And keep on

Because of the gift that we chose to grab hold of

And never let go

Guarding it carefully inside our ribcage

Where it weighs heavy like precious metal

Yet flutters fragile like a bird

Keeping us breathing

Sustaining life

Whilst slowly breaking us down

Until

Hope

Is all

That remains