Hope as a choice

What increasingly gives me hope since moving here are the everyday acts of kindness I have seen in action at St. Paul’s and Northwest Ohio. One of these things happened in the first week or two after moving here we decided to go look around Levis Commons. My son who had just turned two, my sister-in-law, and I were walking by one of the restaurants with an outside eating area and passed a group of boys much older than my son but still young who were playing with these big plastic dinosaurs. My son just stopped and watched them in wonder, not like he was begging but just out of fascination with the kids playing.

One of the little boys, saw my son watching them and came over to talk to my son, and asked my son if he wanted to play with the dinosaur and then seeing the excitement it brought him, asked him if he wanted it. Within a few minutes, the three other little boys brought their dinosaurs over and asked if he wanted theirs too. This was the strangest moment, as we didn’t know any of these kids, my son wasn’t asking for the toy and there was not a hint of resentment or hesitation in any of the boys' offers, it was such a genuine pure moment of giving. I was so shocked by this moment of kindness and generosity from little kids. The first boy, I am guessing the oldest one, insisted that my son take one of the dinosaurs. Their adults interjected from a nearby cafe table that they genuinely wanted to share and they had a box full at their grandparents and were outgrowing them.

 I asked the boys if they were certain they wanted to give away such cool toys and told my son he could have one, but only one. My son of course picked the big green T-rex who opens his mouth and can fit anything the size of a small Hot Wheels car in his teeth when you move his arms. I thanked the boys profusely for their kindness as this T-rex has brought my son so much joy to my son and terror to our Hot Wheels over the last two years.

Other acts of kindness that are more subtle and bring me hope are pretty much anytime I go into a grocery store with both kids and someone inevitably insists on helping me with my cart, helping my son into the cart,  or loading my groceries into the car. I don’t always take strangers up on these offers, but when someone does offer assistance it reminds me that especially when it is offered on my hardest days as a mom God does see me and is reminding me that He is there and listening.

Before listening to Pastor David’s sermon on Hope from Sunday, December 8th  I would not have described trust as a defining feature of hope, though I see where it is now. The idea of hope in Jesus and being called to trust in Him has been a recurring theme in my life, especially, over the last few years. Trust in God has come up multiple times this past year at my bible study and the idea that we need to trust God more whether it is trusting in the people we love or the path we are on, trusting ourselves as mothers, or trusting that God has a plan or a path for our family to follow, no matter how difficult and daunting it might seem while we are on the journey.

What resonated with me most in the sermon on Hope was the reminder that hope is a choice that you make every day. As someone who likes to plan and be prepared, choosing hope or putting my trust in God is challenging for me. I still try to plan and prepare as best I can, but I am finding that the days I choose to relinquish my worries and just trust that God is walking with us fill me with the calmness and peacefulness that gets me through whatever is thrown at me that day.

So in both this holiday season and the season of life that my family is in, I am trying to cling more closely to the hopeful and peaceful feelings I have had since starting at St. Paul’s through everyday God sightings like these kindnesses from strangers or unbelievable deals on baby gear on Facebook or Goodwill where almost every day or at least weekly I am reminded that God is listening and telling me He is with us.

In the New Year, I hope that more people are called to share their God Sightings, BLESS App experiences, or takeaways from sermons and how they are applying those insights in practical ways in the blog post. If you feel called to share please reach out to me about posting to the blog.