The True Hope

A friend from Texas called to say she wanted to drop in for a quick visit - tomorrow. The last time she was here (7 years ago) she was refreshed and inspired in her adventure of motherhood and homeschool. She was just getting started and I was already a mother of nine with two graduates in my trophy case. I guess she figured I knew something.

So she thought she would return for fresh inspiration. After all, now she has eight children, the oldest being a young teenager. "I just want to see how this works," she said. "Shane said that last time I came home with such renewed passion. He felt I could use another opportunity to sit in your home."

I must confess, I panicked a bit. "Oh, if she only knew how miserably I am failing. She can't come - she will be so disappointed."

But as she bubbled on in hopes of pulling such a trip off, I dropped back and reconsidered. She didn't need to see what I had or hadn't accomplished. She needed to see His faithfulness to me. And in that I can readily boast. The chore charts may not be functioning well, we are more than just a few pages behind in some textbooks, certain attitudes need weeding out, and closets are unsightly. But still, He has faithfully been at work.

I do not yet have a great administrative plan for this particular chapter of my life, it's true, so she may not have experienced the same finely tuned machinery that she saw some years ago, but she would still have witnessed a home where He is worshiped, loved, and served. She would see a different season - a picture of what her life may look like in a few more years - and an awareness that He is in it all. God is not confined to a perfect chore chart or a home that runs according to that chore chart, nor is He limited by that perfect chore chart and a home that is running accordingly. He is present in both scenarios if hearts are enthroning Him as Lord.

Sadly, my friend was not able to get flight arrangements that would allow her to squeeze in a visit this time around. But the call from her served as a reminder to boast in Him alone - always. Anything else is bogus - phony - a false hope. He is all we ever truly have to offer to one who is looking for hope. Only Him.