One Word for 2012

Can you find "HOPE" in the midst of this confusion?

HOPE

A challenge has been given by several of my blogging friends to choose one word for 2012 as a type of "New Year's Resolution"...(see http://www.recoveringchurchlady.com/ for example), and so that got me to thinking about what word I would (or should) select for 2012.  My first thought was "faith", in keeping with my previous post about "Giant Leaps of Faith" into the new year(see "Giant Leaps of Faith" )...but another word kept coming to the forefront in my mind...and that was "HOPE".  Obviously, Faith and Hope go together...along with their favored sister, "Love"...(see I Corinthians 13:13), but HOPE was the word that stood out to me all through the Christmas season...and I am still clinging to it. 

Look at the picture above, which is a rather blurred view of a magnification of our Christmas tree.  I would have taken a better photo for this occasion, but we took the tree down yesterday and put it away with all of its trimmings, including the "HOPE" ornament that was so pronounced to me all through the days of Christmas.  Can you find the word "HOPE" in the midst of the blurred confusion of bright lights, tangled tree branches, and the shiny ornaments on the tree?  That's kind of the way life is, you know...a blurred confusion of bright lights, tangled dreams, and shining distractions that tend to draw us away from our "HOPE"... but in Christ we have the  "HOPE" that will not disappoint..."Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us..."  (Read Romans 5:1-6)


"HOPE" is one of the most frequently used words in the Bible...if you have a concordance just look up the word "HOPE"  and see how many references there are...and every scripture gives "HOPE"...   Hope in God when I am afraid, Hope in His promises when I have lost my way, Hope in His mercy when I don't think I can stand any more disappointments or sorrows, Hope in His love and His tender compassion,  Hope in the joy that He expresses on my behalf, Hope in the future that He has planned for my life... "HOPE" in the eternal life that He has promised through faith in His Son Jesus Christ...

"Blessed is the man (woman) who trusts in the LORD, and whose "HOPE"  is in the Lord.  For he (she) shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit."  (Psalm 17:7-8)

"And now, Lord, what do I wait for? My HOPE is in YOU."  Psalm 39:7

So, I ask you, what is YOUR one word for 2012?  Do you need "HOPE"?  I will be very happy to share this word with you... "HOPE" IN GOD...HE WILL NOT DISAPPOINT YOU!