In the Bible, and culture, and Heaven above,
No word is as quite celebrated as “love.”
“Faith” may come close, with its synonym, “trust;”
We all need that daily to transcend this dust.
But one less-sung virtue has grand depth as well;
Saint Paul often used it as doctrinal gel.
That word, at its best, is a life-saving rope;
For one’s future close-clings to the sweetness of “hope.”
Whether longing to go on a restful vacation
Or going to college or changing vocation
Or resuming normalcy of congregation
Or pursuing the freedom to move one’s location
Or praying for peace in this strife-laden nation
Or conquer fixation on dark trepidation
Or rise from the dead in eternal elation
No one can survive without great expectation.
Forty days without food makes one mortally weak;
A lifespan sans water concludes in a week.
Deprived of one’s breath for mere minutes spells pall;
But bereft of all hope, one lives no time at all.
True hope goes beyond mere expecting the trivial
Like first-world luxuries or feasts convivial.
The hope from Above transcends wishful thinking—
It leads to the certainty of faith unblinking.
So whatever your ills or your longings just now,
Remember: Creator God loves you—and how!
This year began darkly; it’s only begun…
But hope springs eternal in Twenty-Twenty-One.
| “Paul’s Poetic Platform” Series Note This 10-part poetic series covers a wide variety of general and personal topics with acrostic, one-word rhyming titles from A through J. January’s topic is both timeless and timely regarding an aspect of our shared human need in an increasingly complex and desperate world. —PRA |
