Any other men doing this 31 Days thing? (chirp...chirp...) Fortunately, I have experience being a lonely man in the Fam. To subscribe to automatically receive each day of 31 Days of Scary Hope : encouragement to go from IS to COULD BE, click HERE. We're still just starting...
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Hope is a wonderful word
It’s the little voice inside you chirping, Really? Do you think that could happen? Your big outside voice says, no way, but you want so bad to believe the little voice. However, it’s not a wishy-washy, dreamy thing. Real hope is based on facts, truth, and a vision of real possibilities.
But
We also have a narrator inside our heads, and I think for most of us that narration is usually negative. It sure is for me. Do you naturally, on your own, think positive about yourself, other people, and circumstances? Left on your own, with no one to talk to, can you not get depressed? I think it’s part of our fallen human condition. The Bible tells us to think about good and positive things, and to “set your mind on things that are above.” The Bible has to tell us that because we don’t naturally do it. We need help.
One way to get help is to see what’s truly possible. To see that the little voice is saying things that really CAN happen. Not that it will happen, but it COULD. You need to see that, and know it, and lift your eyes up from the ground of your present circumstance.
This hope is not that God wants to bless you
Of course, you do want that. But, the hope we’re talking about is in a God who acts to bring glory to him and good for people. God does this all the time, but often it’s not recognized or appreciated. People usually ride the Good and Glory Train without giving the Engineer credit, and even take the credit themselves, but that doesn’t stop God from doing it anyway.
He seems to enjoy taking people and circumstances from IS to COULD BE, even when he doesn’t get credit. He’s been doing it for a long time.
He’s doing it with you and me right now, but we can hinder him by not not participating. You participate with your actions, or your attitude, or your faith, or all of that. It’s unique for each person and circumstance. No formulas.
This hope is part of why God made you
31 Days of Scary Hope is a series of everyday scenes and stories of people and circumstances going from IS to COULD BE. I hope it will encourage you to participate with what God might want to do in your life. Together, we’re all on this journey of hope, and we’re going to lift up our faces from the negative, depressed thinking that says we’re stuck and things can’t change. We’ll lift our heads and face the scary.
But don’t misunderstand
When you read a story here about, say, Sylvester Stallone writing Rocky, I’m not saying God worked in him to write it, and that it was God’s idea. I am saying I believe God made people with a drive to create, do good, be fruitful and multiply, have authority over things, and to not be alone. You were not created to live a disconnected, depressed, non-contributing, helpless, static life of a victim.
God did not make Sylvester Stallone write Rocky, but he created a human being with a drive to create, contribute, connect, and leave a mark. Acknowledging that drive, cooperating with it, and giving credit to the drive-giver is up to you and me. I hope these scenes and stories encourage you to do that.
What are you driven to create, to contribute, to connect with, to mark?
i'm so excited your doing 31 days!
Posted by: melissa | Sunday, October 02, 2011 at 08:10 AM
I'm not a dude, but I'm subscribed and reading along! :) Hugs to you, Mr. Gary.
Posted by: AnnieBlogs | Sunday, October 02, 2011 at 12:42 PM
I'm glad you are doing this 31 day thing. I'll be reading.
Jody
Posted by: Jody | Sunday, October 02, 2011 at 02:27 PM
That first part made me laugh. :) Then I got to the rest and I LOVE your topic. Can't wait to see the rest of your 31 days!
Posted by: Georgia | Sunday, October 02, 2011 at 05:15 PM
When I write, I feel alive. When I talk with women and people about grace, it gives me energy. When I don't write and don't talk about grace, I feel wilty.
I think your topic and my topic this 31 days would totally play together on the playground and then invite Annie Downs' 31 days of courage over to play after school. Love it.
Posted by: emily freeman | Sunday, October 02, 2011 at 05:22 PM
Melissa -- me too! I think!
Posted by: Gary | Sunday, October 02, 2011 at 09:44 PM
Annie -- will you be glad to come home or could you stay lots longer?
Posted by: Gary | Sunday, October 02, 2011 at 09:45 PM
Jody, Georgia -- thanks!
Posted by: Gary | Sunday, October 02, 2011 at 09:46 PM
Emily -- ...and fall down, and our knees get bloody, and we get mad and fight, and eat a grape popsickle
Posted by: Gary | Sunday, October 02, 2011 at 09:47 PM
Hmm. I keep hoping one day I'll discover my passion ... it might be getting people - especially women - to connect. Or raising kids. At least that's what all my time and energy currently go to.
Posted by: Abbie Knaub | Wednesday, October 05, 2011 at 02:41 PM
I am days behind on reading in the series but I had to comment. I've struggled with this drive to create and contribute. I've always felt that the things I create are not of heavenly value. God has certainly been working with me on this and your post drives His point home.
Let me explain - I scrapbook, quilt and crochet. I enjoy these things immensely and have, what I say to be, a God given talent for them. My thinking is, these are worldly things but God shows me, time and again, that He has called me to create in this way. He is amazing!
Posted by: Annie | Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 01:30 PM
I've been reading every day... and now I'm going back to refresh. So glad you jumped right into the middle of scary!!
Posted by: Joy Manoleros | Sunday, October 23, 2011 at 11:33 AM