Shelter in the Lamp

My eyes followed a tall white wooden post to the top, where a lamp shines out against the dark. Inside, tucked between the glass panes and the light bulb sits a tiny bird. It has found this tucking away place in the midst of winter’s wet cold, a source of shelter and warmth. Every time I see movement of the little bird inside the lamp, I smile and think of how we also receive needed shelter in the midst of cold storms. We all need places sometimes to gather into when a new wave of snow and ice is lashing at the door.  

“You are my hiding place;
You shall preserve me from trouble;
You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. “

Psalm 32:7

There is a sight I pass on my way to work most mornings of a mother putting her child on the school bus. The sight itself is not bothersome, it is as natural and as correct as can be. Where I find the tugging on my heart is that instead of being outside a house or apartment, these two are bundled against the weather outside of a local shelter. As I pass, I pray for this family. For stability and economic success, but more importantly that in this time of difficulty, they will also be tucked into the sheltering warmth of God’s love.

We all need a spot to be hidden from the world as it can be a vast place and quite messy with the needs and perceptions of people. How I rejoice that in the midst of trouble, we are surrounded with songs of deliverance. Go, seek out encouragement – it is right there on the light post.

Placing Hope

When I was a little girl, there was a place at the park where a shelter had been built to overlook a forested valley. If I stood very quietly with bird seed on my hands, chickadees and sparrows would use my palms as their dinner spot. Tiny birds with bright eyes and bold looks would gobble down the seeds and trust me to serve them properly without jumping up and down in delight. In return, their presence thrilled me as I could feel them walking about, tickling my palms and giving me the opportunity to see the details that are a mere blur in flight.

Hope seems to me to be something like those birds. Deceptively fragile, incredibly detailed and something precious to be entrusted with; I try to form it as an image in my mind. But, it is not enough to hope for anything, or it will turn to something small and broken before my eyes. I hope for health, a car that runs, to do my job well, to have happiness and many other things. But, these are small and easily overturned hopes.  Health fades, cars break down, there are good days and bad days in anyone’s job, happiness is not guaranteed. If I hope in these things, I am left hopeless.

A friend wrote about the bravery of choosing to hope in the Creator of hope recently. It seems that in a way, hopelessness may be the easier out because it hedges our bets. Her words encouraged me to continue to bravely continue to seek for the hope that comes with Christ. Hope that is not based on circumstances or culture, media or other people. It is hope that stems from what is true and good and right; from Jesus – the creator of hope.  

“For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39

My hope is in Jesus. I don’t think it could be better placed.