Sunday Serenity: Hope

Hope is a funny thing, isn't it?  It's usually such a good word.  But it's a real be-yotch when you've been putting your hope in something that doesn't work out.  I mean, if you've really been putting your hope in it; in an all-your-eggs-in-one-basket sort of way.  The funny thing is, I rarely realize I'm doing that, until all my hope comes crashing down, and it hits me, "Uh, I had no Plan B."  That's when I know I've done it, but usually not before.

Now, I know that the problem isn't hope, in an of itself.  It's what I put my hope in.  And that's usually my own best-laid plans.  And those plans usually involve some variation of:

[Maximum Happiness + Minimum Pain = My Master Plan] 

It's usually followed up with some sort of prayer to sanctify it, such as, "Oh please! Oh, please! Oh, please, God!  Make this be Your plan!!!! And Thy will be done and all that too.  Amen."  If I was Catholic, I might throw some Holy Water in the direction of this "hope."  And then I'd call it a day, and go about my business. 

Until it doesn't work out.

Then, I go back to God and ask, "What happened?  Why did You mess up the plan we'd agreed upon?"  (Actually, usually I try to weasel my way into going back to bed and hiding under the covers, but that, thankfully, doesn't usually work out.)  And then, if I'm lucky, I might finally hear that still, small voice.  And I start to get an inkling of the fact that I've been putting my hope in something other than the right thing.  Actually, something other than the right person.  'Cause I know He doesn't let me down. 

My hope is built on nothing less,

Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly trust in Jesus’ Name.

Refrain:

On Christ the solid Rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

When darkness seems to hide His face,
I rest on His unchanging grace.
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.

Refrain

His oath, His covenant, His blood,
Support me in the whelming flood.
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my Hope and Stay.

Refrain

When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh may I then in Him be found.
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.

On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand by Avalon

Hugs, Ruthie

Sunday Serenity: Power and Love

When you pray, you open yourself to the influence of the Power which has revealed itself as Love.
-Henri Nouwen

God has been showing me His love in special ways during this season, especially through prayer, so I am intrigued by this quote from the late Henri Nouwen.  Nouwen wrote in a unique way that showed how God's love is very real and accessible.

I continue to grapple with prayer, and the ideas of why I pray, or how I pray (or don't.)  I think it is going to be a long journey for me.  On my journey, I have to remember that God is both powerful and loving.  It's amazing to realize that prayer opens me up to both that power and that love.  And boy, do I need both.  In fact, without God's power, I find it almost impossible to be loving; At least, when loving is hardest--which seems to be when it's most important.

This post is inspired by Melissa at 320 Sycamore, and her regular Sunday Courage for the Week posts.

George Bailey's Turning Point

Today (although she doesn't know it) I'm linking up to a blogger who I follow and enjoy.  Each week on Sundays, Melissa at 320 Sycamore posts an inspirational thought that she calls Courage For The Week.

Today, she posted a clip from It's A Wonderful Life, where George Bailey prays his famous tavern prayer.  I never knew before that as Jimmy Stewart filmed that scene, he had a very profound experience himself.  I watched the clip, and read Jimmy Stewart's commentary on it, and I am struck by how it resonates with my post yesterday.  Each of us will stand at our own "turning point."  We will realize we must ask for "God's protection and care with complete abandon."  George Bailey is at that place in this scene.

Jimmy Stewart wrote an article for Guideposts magazine about the prayer.  As a film studies major in school, I know how painstaking the editing process is.  Back in the days before digital media, I can't imagine the labor involved.  I am in awe:

“As I said those words, I felt the loneliness, the hopelessness of people who had nowhere to turn, and my eyes filled with tears. I broke down sobbing. This was not planned at all, but the power of that prayer, the realization that our Father in heaven is there to help the hopeless, had reduced me to tears.

Frank (Capra, the director), who loved spontaneity in his films, was ecstatic. He wanted a close-up of me saying that prayer, but was sensitive enough to know that my breaking down was real and that repeating it in another take was unlikely. But Frank got his close-up. The following week he worked long hours in the film laboratory, repeatedly enlarging the frames so that eventually it would appear as a close-up on the screen. I believe nothing like this had ever been done before. It involved thousands of enlargements with extra time and money. But he felt it was worth it…” ~Jimmy Stewart, Guideposts.

Stewart goes on to describe how, despite high hopes, the film was a box office flop.  A total failure.  But inexplicably, it "wouldn't die."  It eventually became one of the most beloved films of all time, eventually called an "American cultural phenomenon."  Stewart wraps up the article by saying,

"Well, maybe so, but it seems to me there is nothing phenomenal about the movie itself. It's simply about an ordinary man who discovers that living each ordinary day honorably, with faith in God and a selfless concern for others, can make for a truly wonderful life." 

Thanks, Melissa, for letting me link over to you.