Special Hopes or Openness? ...

Thursday, Nov 3, 2011. There was a little girl who dreamt of becoming a dancer. She already had this dream from the age of three, and when she was 18 she managed to get into professional studies and finally made it to the Broadway. She had very special hopes and her hopes became reality! Is this a good approach: to have particular hopes and work towards their fulfilment?

What am I waiting for? …

There are some people who had particular dreams and hopes. They were gifted, they worked hard, and they reached their goals. I mentioned the little girl above. But of course there are more. I once said when I had the choice I would choose to work as a professor with half a professorship at Germany and half one at the UK. That was years ago, and today I have something, which is very close to this, with part-time/extraordinary professorships in the UK and in Germany, plus the leadership for a research unit in a governmental organization.

But of course there are millions of hopes which do not come true. We can name those particular cases as those above, but we can also name so many cases where our hopes have been disappointed, where hopes were forgotten!

My question is: what am I waiting for? Do I have hopes for something very particular, which keeps me from true life? Perhaps my mind is so focussed on a particular thing, that I do not see the beauty of the world around me? Perhaps I am completely narrow-minded with my hope? And perhaps I hope for things which - in the long run - are completely irrelevant for life?

God's Guidance …

Perhaps I need to let go some of my hopes, and find new hope? Perhaps I should change some hopes and hope for different things? Perhaps I should find a new openness with respect to my hopes?

In the gospels Jesus tells his disciples: come to me, if you want to find true life! Come to me, if you are disappointed about your hopes. Come to me, if you need new strength and new hopes!

In the New Testament we are asked to put our hopes in Jesus, not in particular worldly things. He promises to meet our needs! That does not mean that he will meet particular hopes immediately or at all. But he knows what we need and he is here to help. Our role is to put our hopes into him!

My life experience is that the biblical promises are reliable, highly reliable. Putting my trust in the Lord, I have learned that he provides what we need and much more indeed! Let us put our hopes in him and be open to where he leads us … (Roland Potthast) ... more texts