Hope, Joy, Peace, Grace, Love, Faith and Hope

LITTLE things make significant differences. Men are made little boys and women, little girls, in an instant, when people don’t care about important little details they care about. None of us are beyond being pressed into adolescent shapes of angry hysteria. Anger, aggression, fear, disgust, shock and contempt are just some of the negative connotations of emotion that transmute full-grown adults into children, emotionally, in the matter of a moment. In promoting hope, joy, peace, grace, love and faith — in propelling the next hope — let us treat everyone with respect. Care for the little things. Be responsible for providing for the little things. Little things make significant differences.

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Then there is the friend. The person who, without words to make a good impression, sets out to be there for us. They are beyond setting an impression. They hold us aloft when we are about to fall. They bridge great chasms for us by their pliable solidity, as they trust the Holy Spirit, according to our finite need of them. When we commit to being such a friend, we act without thought for our needs of pride. We might enjoy submitting to them so they might be more. As they say, a friend in need of us is a friend indeed. A friend can only be defined by another. A friend is more a function of the person than the person themselves — in the way they love according to the other’s need — but can anyone be a better person than one who comes in a time of need? Friends built us in hope, make life more joyous, bring peace, offer grace, exemplify love, operate in faith — and propel us both in hope.

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You can always hope. Despair is the surest sign that hope is present. Hope always, because you can. Hope, because hope leads to joy, which carries us to peace, because of God’s grace, where love is both felt and enjoyed, and faith is made easier, abounding us in hope, once again.

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With hope outbound of a risk, joy is experienced on loan, and peace is the byproduct. Grace is known in peace, which gives us the love to be bold in faith, built on hope.

From hope starts a chain: joy for the moment creates peace for reflection; God’s grace makes room for praise and thanksgiving; love makes us conscious of love; faith is big enough out of love, and where there is faith there is hope.

© 2015 Steve Wickham.