Saturday May 19th, 2018 Romans 8:22-27
For in hope we were saved. (verse 24)
Every year I plant four tomato plants and then I wait. First the flowers, then the tiny tomatoes, then the hint of pink. Every day I go outside hoping for my first ripe tomato. A hint of pink and my taste buds are alive with anticipation. It is hard to wait for that first taste.
Many times in our lives we wait: a wedding date, test results, retirement, graduation. In our waiting there is sometimes patience and very often hoping. We may have an idea what will happen as the waiting ends, but there is always the chance that the unexpected could happen. One year my first taste of tomato was stopped short by a visiting slug who was the first to feast on my tomato.
We are waiting and hoping for the second coming of Christ. We don’t know what that will look like. Only God knows the day or the hour, and so we wait and hope. Our waiting and hoping is different than my tomato wait. We have already tasted the first fruits. In our baptisms we were filled with the Spirit: the Spirit who groans with us in our troubles, the Spirit who intercedes for us when we don’t know how, the Spirit who gives us new life through Christ.
Taste and see that the Lord is good. Thanks be to God. Amen. — LH
Contributed by The Taste of Hope
Every year I plant four tomato plants and then I wait. First the flowers, then the tiny tomatoes, then the hint of pink. Every day I go outside hoping for my first ripe tomato. A hint of pink and my taste buds are alive with anticipation. It is hard to wait for that first taste.
Many times in our lives we wait: a wedding date, test results, retirement, graduation. In our waiting there is sometimes patience and very often hoping. We may have an idea what will happen as the waiting ends, but there is always the chance that the unexpected could happen. One year my first taste of tomato was stopped short by a visiting slug who was the first to feast on my tomato.
We are waiting and hoping for the second coming of Christ. We don't know what that will look like. Only God knows the day or the hour, and so we wait and hope. Our waiting and hoping is different than my tomato wait. We have already tasted the first fruits. In our baptisms we were filled with the Spirit: the Spirit who groans with us in our troubles, the Spirit who intercedes for us when we don't know how, the Spirit who gives us new life through Christ.
