One of the rhythms that I have leaned into in the past several years is getting up early in the morning before my wife and kids. I enjoy this time of quiet, of coffee, of reading or praying or just taking in the silence. In this early spring season the silence most mornings is tempered by the sound of the many birds making their early morning quest to my bird feeder. One morning recently the birdsong was loud enough sufficient to distract me from my silent prayers.

Today we enter the Advent season, a season of waiting and anticipating, a time for reflecting and a time for hope. Hope is a word we hear a lot during this season of the year. Hope is an overused word in our culture. Its richness has been cheapened by familiarity. We hope we do good on our test. We hope our ball team wins. We hope the weather is sunny. We hope our candidate wins. Most often when we say, “I hope” what we are really saying is, “I wish.” And like the penny we throw in the fountain and then walk away, we really don’t expect much to happen. But the Scriptures give us a powerful new vocabulary for hope. God’s word gives us a new way of seeing reality and guides us in a way of walking, working and living in hope. Found in the richness of the Psalms and in the words of Paul we can learn a way of hoping that God can use to birth in us an expectant and patient confidence. Rather than mere wishful thinking, there is a trustworthy and sure hope that we can have in God.