It's A New Year

 Putting away the last few bulbs of Christmas 2013. It's been another tough year, sprinkled with fun.
Pulling open our devotional at Harrison Hot Springs left me excited with anticipation. What was God going to say to me, right now, right here among the tranquillity of this resort?
Hope is an Olive Leaf-Evidence of dry land after a flood. Proof to the dreamer that dreaming is worth the risk. Max Lucado.
My dear friend Max, always has meaning full words put to paper, feeding my ravenous appetite.
Hope that I had just about given up on this last year. And then the dove landed with a olive leaf in his mouth and bid me take. ...
Now the sun is setting , and the sky is darkening , and you look around and all you see is water. Water to the North, water to the South, water to the East, water to the West...
You know the feeling . You have stood where Noah stood. You've known your share of floods. Flooded by sorrow at the cemetery; anger at the disability in your body, guilty of not being able to shelter your child from life's storms. You've seen the flood water rise, and you've likely seen the sun set on your hopes as well. You've been on Noah's boat.
Oh yes I have. Fourth Christmas in a row, floods, torrential rain, indisputable sorrows, sea winds and waves rocking my Ark. I needed what Noah needed. A little hope. And that's all Noah received.
"When the dove returned to him in the evening , there it was a freshly plucked Olive Leaf"
Gen. 8:11.
The bird brought back a promise , hope of better times. Evidence of dry land to come after a flood. Proof to the dreamer that dreaming is worth the risk. I am a dreamer. I needed that Olive leaf.
Don't we all love the Olive leaves in our life? It appears the cancer may be remission. I can help with those fiances. We'll get through this together. Whats more don't we love the doves that bring them? When a wife of many years consoles the wife of a few months, when she tells her that conflicts come and all husbands are moody and these storms pass, you know what she is doing? She is giving an Olive leaf. Just like Jesus who extends grace, love and mercy to us to me. Grace and life, forgiveness of sin. Defeat of death. This is the hope he gives. He will never leave us or forsake us. To all the Noah's of the world , to all who search the horizon for a fleck of hope, He proclaims ,"Yes"! And He comes. He comes as a dove. He comes bearing fruit from a distant land, from our future home. He comes with a leaf of hope.  Don't think your Ark is too isolated ,your flood to wide. And that is what I needed to hear. "Love bears all things, believes all things, HOPES all things , endures all things"
 1 Cor. 13:4-7 .Love has hope in you. Love extends an olive leaf to the loved one and says , I have hope in you.

 So this first day of 2014 I have put my first "hope" item in my bottle of Joy. A picture of my friends who extend Olive Leaves to me. Who stand by me and walk with me so that the flood waters of life don't overtake me and drown me. Who love me despite my weakness or inability at times to show love back. Thank you my friends, thank you.