Axioms…from my perspective

normally, i devote thursdays to giving some of my personal life axioms…truth that , from my perspective, is self-evident.  i forgot.  so you get one today…

“there’s always hope.  always.”

i’m sitting here this morning watching the michael vick press conference.  there’s a lot of talk about mistakes, second chances, judgment, doing the right things…you name it.  it’s made me think about hope.

i would never be accused of being a motivational speaker or one who praises the virtue of the power of positive thinking, but there is no question that i am a glass-is-always-half-full kind of guy.  i always believe that something good is never more than one wise decision away.

i don’t really know where i became that person.  i don’t remember my parents being overly optimistic kind of people, but they were definitely hard-working, determined folks who valued perseverence and had a hang in there way of life.  we lived through really difficult times (my father was a carpenter…work was always influenced by weather and job availability).  often, money was scarce.  my parents didn’t even buy a house until my senior year in high school…we only had the resources to rent.  i only experienced one family vacation in my whole life.  there was always food on the table, but never a lot more.

but i came away with a deep awareness of hope.  somehow.

my world is flooded with struggle these days.  not my own right now.  thankfully.  but all around me.  lives are crumbling.  health is fragile.  marriage stability is tenuous.  jobs are insecure…or non-existent.  crime is always looming.  the economy is anything but healthy.  politicians cannot be trusted.  the personal lifestyles we have always believed we were entitled to are no longer a lock.  the poor, the needy, the forgotten, the exploited, the hungry, the abused fill our globe…looking for answers.

but i refuse to believe that we are hopeless.  i believe in a god of possibilities…a god of forgiveness…a god of love and mercy…a god of second chances…a God of sovereign power.  i believe there is always hope…and a future where god promises to make all things new.

hope fuels determination.  hope makes second chances possible.  hope creates a framework where good decisions can be made.  hope gives us a reason to get up in the morning.  hope motivates us to love our neighbors and worship with passion.  hope is the glue that sustains a life of discipleship.

one of my favorite passages in the bible comes from the pen of the apostle paul in his second letter to the believers in corinth:

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.  We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;  persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.  We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.  2 Corinthians 4:7-10

there’s always hope.  always.