High Hopes

Perhaps it’s just me, but I can’t shake the feeling that hopeful as everyone is for this upcoming year to be all they’ve ever dreamed of - to the point that the memory of the past year will evermore be expunged from their consciousness - it’s likely not going to. The best an honest, reasonable, realistic person can hope for is that this year is no worse than last year, but even that may be a bit of a stretch.

What if 2021 is the Tonya Harding to our collective Nancy Kerrigan, waiting in the wings with a metal pipe and malicious intent? That is a question to which we must have a decisive answer because I’m seeing people of all stripes, both Christian and otherwise, acting as though some arbitrary date automatically begins a new chapter, independent of the consequence of actions heretofore undertaken.

What does that mean in laymen’s terms? Well, we’ve run up a tab, our wallets are empty, we have no way of paying for what we’ve already consumed, but we’re still ordering the most expensive things on the menu. Eventually, the bill will come due. We are going to get cut off at some point, and an angry bouncer with a face scar will demand payment in full.

Sure, we can hope that some generous stranger comes along and settles our bill out of the goodness of their heart, but nobody’s that generous, and even if they were, nobody has enough to cover what we’ve already squandered.

So that’s just one issue. There are dozens of others waiting in the wings. Eventually, they’ll get tired of waiting. You can’t keep kicking cans down the road at Infinitum. Right now, as a nation, we are kicking so many cans it sounds like a newlywed couple’s car that was decorated by someone with OCD. All you hear is banging and clanging, with elected officials obsessively polishing the silverware while the ship is sinking.

Fix the holes first, then worry about the silverware. But there’s no profit to be made from fixing the holes. There are no cushy gigs you can get for your kids, or nephews, or spouses by doing what’s best for the American people. In order for their families to prosper, your family has to suffer. You’ve got to have someone to sell out in order to get paid, and for the most part, it seems the individuals elected to represent the people are selling out the selfsame people who elected them.

I could go on with the laundry list as to why I’m less than hopeful about this year being better than the previous year, but I don’t want to bum you out or cause consternation. I guess the point this morning if there is a point to this, is that your hope must be tethered in something other than a date, a person, a political party, or a bell’s palsy causing vaccine. Men will fail you; the government will fail you, even scrunching your eyes and wishing really, really hard for the best year ever will fail you. The one thing that will never fail you is God, and if you are anchored in Him, the waves may crash upon you, the winds may batter you, but you will remain whole. You will neither capsize nor crash upon the stones of hopelessness because the One in whom you’ve placed your trust gives permanence.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea Jr.