Are you expecting good things?

Most of the time we expect things that are good, but sometimes, people who worry expect the bad.

This month let’s focus on the positive expectations.  Look for the small things.

They will happen.

I learned something this week as I was waiting on the train that takes me to work.

The train I was waiting on was about three blocks away. I could see it sitting at the station. It was late, but not moving.

After a few minutes of frustration, I asked out loud, “Why is it just sitting there?”

Another person waiting responded to me.

“It can’t come here until the southbound train gets here.”

Looking southward, there weren’t even lights heading in our direction.

“Really?” I asked.

“Yes,” they said.

True enough, once the southbound train got to our station, the one I was waiting on left the other station heading our way.

This caused me to think.

Some of us are waiting on things to happen in our lives and are growing frustrated because they are not.

PERHAPS there is a series of things that need to happen that do not have anything to do with you.

Maybe you need to ask the question of why you are still waiting.

Maybe you need to realize that some times it has nothing to do with you.

Maybe you wait patiently until it is your time.

Manage your frustration. Don’t give up. Trust God’s timing. He is always right on time.

Planned Interruption.

Some days you need to plan the interruption. In the middle of your list, throw something in there that interrupts the flow of things. Maybe it will take you off the beaten path. Maybe it will give you new ideas that rejuvenate you. Maybe it will just give you a break from your ordinary routine.

Learn to embrace the interruptions.

Hope is one of those things you do not keep to yourself.

This is something you share causing it to grow.

The more people that have hope, the better this world will be. If you only give one other person hope, you have made the world a better place.

I love the Christmas season. It is all about hope. God loved us so much that He came down to be with us. To look us in our face. The Creator of the universe wanted to get to know us, so He came down and got in our face. That is love.

Think on that.

Let that sink in.

The one who created those tall East Texas pines, wants you to have hope.

The one who put just enough ingredients in seawater so that it foams when it rolls on the Carolina beaches, wants you to have hope.

He speaks through the natural world everyday.

Stop and listen.

Being hopeful is a choice.  It is kind of like faith. You have to choose to believe in spite of what your circumstances might be telling you.

The verse I lean on is Romans 8:28. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. This verse reminds me that God has got this. I have to trust Him. I do. It gives me hope.