“Be joyful in hope!” Romans 12:12

Dear Jesus, What a pitchy and powerful command! Hope is the calm assurance that everything will get better, even when I cannot see how. It brings a joy all its own that hides deep in the heart even when our situation is rapidly disintegrating. You have given me that hope. You had it while you suffered and died. It can accompany me there in my suffering and death too. Help me to own the fact that I help propagate my own sadness by living as a functional atheist at times. You are alive and you are my Savior. I can be joyful in hope. I don’t have to be stuck in sadness. Give this faith-based gift to me today, Jesus. Amen.

Joy is the offspring of hope.