Image by Allan Foster

As a fitness professional, someone who struggles with compulsive overeating and a recovering exercise anorexic, I was fascinated by the TV show “The Biggest Loser”.  The reality contest, which enjoyed a 17 season run, pitted obese contestants against each other to see who could loose the biggest percentage of weight in a designated time period.  The episodes sucked me into the struggle of the participants to alter their appearance and their health.  I stopped watching the program after a few seasons when the weight loss stories got more and more sensational.  It was obvious that the methods employed on the show to put up such outrageous weight loss percentages could not be healthy.  Pounds that come off that fast can never be maintained.  We were obviously witnessing the results of hours of daily exercise (that could never be maintained in the real world), extreme and severe calorie restriction and potentially unsafe appetite suppressing and fat burning drugs.

However, the mental picture of one of the challenges from the show has long stayed with me.  At a certain point during the proceedings, when the contestants had all lost a significant amount of weight, their trainers would ask them to strap back on the equivalent of the pounds they had lost and run a mile.  Having enjoyed moving and exercising in freedom from many of these pounds for several weeks, the participants struggled with the extra weight and felt the heaviness they had previously carried all the time.  After the race was over, they all felt such relief to shed the extra pounds again.

In the book From Clutter to Clarity:  Simplifying Life from the Inside Out, author Nancy Twigg defines clutter as, “Anything that complicates your life and prevents you from living in peace as you live out your purpose”.  Whew.  My life is complicated.  And peace can be hard to find.  Simplifying may not be as easy as throwing out the trash.  I think often times the things that are cluttering up our lives can masquerade as good things.  Hebrews 12:1 outlines the biblical instruction for simplifying our lives.  “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.  And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,”.   With enough time spent in scripture and prayer, we can be convicted of our sin, ask forgiveness and seek God’s help to turn from it.  But what about the other stuff?  The non-sin stuff that hinders.  How can we pinpoint what else is getting in our way?  I think the answer lies in verse 2.  “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.  For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”  The race we are running is toward Jesus.  That is the road God “marked out for us.”  The “other stuff” that hinders is anything that makes our daily journey to Jesus more difficult.

What is slowing me down as I run toward Him?  What is blocking your vision as you look toward His face?  Is it a relationship?  Is it the way your spend your money?  Or your time?  Is it a pursuit that’s become too important?  All-consuming even.  The answer to that question is the secret to simplifying.

image by qthomasbower

I have many friends who practice a “one word” type of resolution each year.  After thought/ prayer/ consideration, they select a single word that will serve as the focus or motivation for the year.  They meditate on it, study it from an intellectual and biblical standpoint, and try to absorb the fullness of it into their lives.  I have watched this ritual from afar and admired the dedication and tenacity it takes, but I have never chosen a single word for myself.  Until now.

The Compassion Bloggers Network asked contributors to pray about what word focus God might be placing on our hearts for 2018.  My search brought me to HOPE.  If you read my blog much at all, you know 2017 was a hard year for me and my family.  And though I very much HOPE 2018 will be better, this has nothing to do with my word choice.  I chose HOPE because I believe the spiritual meaning of it is quite misunderstood and I want a better grasp of it.

A dictionary definition of HOPE as a noun is “a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.”  As someone who is now a card carrying member of the cancer community, I hear the word bandied about often.  Each type of cancer has their own color “hope ribbon” like the one pictured above.  And many other physical and mental conditions vie for our time, funds and loyalty with ribbons of their own.  Everything from AIDS to Tourette’s and all the alphabet letters in between.  For the cause nearest and dearest to us, we want research.  We long for understanding and compassion.  We pray for a cure – a better life for those suffering.

Hope as a verb means, “to want something to happen or be the case.”  It’s common usage might be represented visually by something like this:

image by minh.tnm

As in, “cross your fingers and HOPE for the best”.  Commonly heard in sentiments like, “I HOPE you feel better soon.”  “I HOPE my presentation goes well.”  “I HOPE you find a job soon.”  “I HOPE we win the game.”  “I HOPE peace comes to this country.”  All good things.  But we aren’t guaranteed any of those things.  Just because we think something should be a certain way, doesn’t mean it is.  Not all children are fed.  Not every injury is healed.  Not all disease is cured.  Our HOPEs are often nothing more than wishes.  Anyone who has lived in this messed up, broken world for a minute can attest to that.  As the old Disney song says, “a dream is a wish your heart makes”, but a wish is not enough to build your world view on.  If we put all of our energy into trusting that one day, things on this earth will be different, we may lead ourselves down a road of bitter disappointment.

Author Aubrey Sampson says, “Hope, biblically, is not ‘looking on the bright side’…Nearly every time hope is mentioned in scripture, it is always about the object of our hope, Jesus.”  Hebrews 11:1 NIV says, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”  But what is it, biblically, that we can hope for?  My HOPE is in the following four verses.  “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.  He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.”  Titus 3:4-7 NIV   No matter how my days are playing out, no matter what or who I have or don’t have, my Savior loves me.  He saved me because of His mercy.  I will forever be grateful that I did not have to earn that salvation, because I never could.  And since He has made me right with Him, I have life for all eternity.  Heaven.  Forever with Him.  The Bible says so.  God says so.  As a result, “Let us hold unswervingly to the HOPE we profess, for he who promised is faithful.”  Hebrews 10:23 NIV