A New Baby

Today as I sit here at home and wait for a call that I need to go to the hospital to welcome a new grandbaby, I am reflecting on the culture we live in and the world in which that precious little baby will grow up! We do not know if this baby is a boy or a girl, but no matter the gender, the intelligence or any other characteristic of this little baby, he/she will face many challenges that his parents, his grandparents, his extended family and every Christian he knows will need to help him through!

I haven’t written for a while for various reasons, but I have become very burdened by what is going on in our political climate and wondering how I can help young parents face the challenges that are rampant today! I am going to try over the next few weeks to react and to respond to some of the things that I am hearing and hope that it may be of help to you.

One of the words that is often being used today is the word “hope”. As I listen, (and I am quite interested in the political scene) I hear that word just batted around as if just the ability to have “hope” is all that matters. I haven’t heard anyone yet tell us what reason we have for having “hope”! I am here to tell you that “hope” in “hope” will get you nothing! “Hope” in some intangible idea or thing will also accomplish nothing. We need to have our “hope” IN something.

My challenge to you moms and parents is to give your children something IN which to hope. And the best thing that I know of to be the object of that “hope” is God. God, in His Word, not only tells us to have “hope”, He tells us where to place our hope and why. In Psalm 146:5-10 a.) (NKJV) it says: “Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for His help, whose ‘hope’ is in the Lord his God, Who made Heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them; Who keeps truth forever, Who executes justice for the oppressed, Who gives food to the hungry. The Lord gives freedom to the prisoners. The Lord opens the eyes of the blind; the Lord raises those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous. The Lord watches over the strangers; He relieves the fatherless and the widow; but the way of the wicked He turns upside down. The Lord shall reign forever--”

That list not only covers many of the needs that we face in America today, but God has great credentials, don’t you think?! And talk about experience…! I pray that as we all face the coming days and months and all that is transpiring in our great country, we will remember that, as the song says, “Our ‘hope’ is in the Lord” and not in anything that any of the politicians tell us about what they are going to do! Our job is to pray and seek God’s will and best plan for us and for our families. This is the reason that I can be excited and thrilled as I wait for the new life that God is placing in our family today or some day soon! On my own and with the things I see and hear with my own eyes and ears, I would be very apprehensive and pessimistic, but when I read Psalm 146, I see GREAT HOPE in the God Who created the Heaven and the earth and will reign forever! With that “hope”, I can hold that precious new grandbaby and know that with God’s help, I can make a difference for him and for all the other grandchildren God has and will bless me with!

With that in mind, may I keep my eyes on God and keep focused on my mission so that I can be that help and support that all who are living in this world are looking for. Praise the Lord for the ‘hope’ we have in Him!!!