Getting My Hopes Up

I have experienced a lot of rejection in the past year with regards to employment. I've applied for countless jobs, only to hear an uninterested 'no' or never get a response from the employer at all. Many of the job rejections didn't result in disappointment of any kind; I wasn't particularly attached. A few of the jobs, however, sounded really interesting and were located in places I would have liked to live. I got my hopes up. Disappointment followed close behind. The jobs and locations seemed perfect. I was qualified for the tasks that would have been expected of me. Yet, something always fell through.

I frequently hear people say, "Don't get your hopes up," or, "I'm trying not to get my hopes up." I've even said it myself, occasionally. I understand the idea behind people not getting their hopes up. It seems to stem from the belief of, 'If I don't get excited, I won't be nearly as disappointed when [insert whatever comes to mind] falls through.' 

I tried living that way. I can't. I want to get excited about possibilities, impossibilities, and everything in between. I have been rejected too many times to count. It is disappointing. Sometimes tears of frustration spill over. But through it all, I do not regret getting my hopes up. I do not regret researching rental prices, fun things to do, and ways to serve in the locations I hoped to encounter. I do not regret all the occasions I have squealed in delight or happily shouted, "This is the best day ever!", because in that moment, it truly was the best day ever. I've learned that people can have lots of best days ever when they are open to the possibility.

Hope is not wishful thinking, nor is it something to squelch, suppress, or smother. The biblical definition of hope is a confident expectation, or the full assurance, that what is unseen and unknown will eventually be made visible; made known according to God's promises. The abiding sense of trust in the fact that it, whatever 'it' may be, will eventually work out. Take a look at how Paul got his hopes up. He made sure someone was preparing a guest room for him! 
"Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say. At the same time, prepare a guest room for me, for I am hoping that through your prayers I will be graciously given to you." -Philemon 1:21-22
 
Hope is something that never runs out, even when disappointment decides to join the party. We read the verses about God delighting in His children and being the giver of every good and perfect gift, but it's almost as if we are afraid to believe it; as if God will suddenly come and rip it away, laughing, mocking even. That is such a terribly sad way to live; it sucks all the color out of life. Nor is it part of God's nature. At. All.

I only have 25 years of perspective. I will be learning until the day I fold my earthly tent and head for God's dwelling place.  I don't yet have age on my side when it comes to experience and wisdom. 

This I do know: There will be splendid, laugh out loud, happy overflow kind of days. There will be disappointing, deep darkness kind of days. I won't always understand the reason. I must choose my response. 

So, here's to a lifetime of getting my hopes up!

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? If you then, who are sinful, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!" -Matthew 7:7-11

"If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways." -James 1:5-8