Cultivating Hope in Life's Second Half
The mission of The Sage Forum is to encourage, equip, and empower women over 40 to mature in faith and grow in wisdom. The newsletter we send out at the beginning of each month focuses on a different theme relevant to women in the second half of life. The Sage Forum Extra! is a short reflection meant to offer you a word of encouragement. Today, Sage Forum contributor Judy Allen is talking about cultivating hope, which can be both a deeply countercultural and wise way to live as we age.
We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people— the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel that has come to you. (Colossians 1:3-6a)
In this section of Colossians, Paul refers to faith, hope and love, and suggests that faith and love spring from the hope stored up for us in heaven. N.T. Wright commented, “The solid facts about the future hope of Christians are a powerful motivation for constant faith and costly love in the present.”[1]
Solid facts about future hope sound more certain than the hopes we profess. We typically hope for things over which have little control and that may or may not come to pass. In some cases, it’s little more than wishful thinking, as in I hope I win the lottery. One dictionary definition of hope is, to feel that something desired may happen. I hope that the Chicago Cubs will have a winning season, but as every Cub fan knows, that hope is likely to be squashed.
As is often the case, I’ve found that God often turns my way of thinking about a topic inside out and upside down. He has upended my thinking about the nature of hope in some powerful ways in recent years.
Biblical hope is a confident expectation, which may seem counter intuitive. Our expectations are built on the assumed trajectory of our lives, and we have days, weeks, and years of experience to back them up. Sounds reasonable. On the other hand, the term hope is based on nothing but desires, intangibles, things that are not seen.
Confidently expectant hope requires faith in the promises, recorded by Holy Spirit inspired writers, of a God who is unseen. Many would say that’s little reason for confidence.
My hope has grown more confident in the second half of life. When we’re young, in the first half of life, it’s natural to hope for what we see as success. There is nothing wrong with that, and God often gives us much of what we hope for. However, as I’ve grown as a Christian, my view of success and my hopes have changed. Where I once hoped for a spouse, home, promotion, good friends, or a fabulous vacation, I now hope that my children, their spouses, and their children stay strong in their faith and that they do everything that God created them to do. Whether that will mean worldly success or not is God’s call. Bottom line, I hope that my family, friends, and I will all follow Jesus more closely. I see success differently and my hope is growing more confidently expectant.
When our hope is in Jesus, when we’re seeking the kingdom of God, we can be assured that our hope will be eternally realized, even if our temporal expectations are not. Yes, our hope is intangible, based on God who is not visible, and in the promises given to us in his word. To hold on to such a hope requires faith. As our faith grows, our confidence in his promises also grows.
God has made clear that he is faithful to keep his promises, and as my confidence in his promises grows, my faith flourishes and my love for the Lord and other people expands. Perhaps in the second half of life, as our hope grows, our faith and love do spring from our confidently expectant hope.
— Judy Allen
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. Hebrews 10:23
How have you seen your experience of hope change as you’ve gotten older?
Our hope inspiring Father,
Thank you for your love, promises, and faithfulness, and for opening our eyes to see your word as worthy of confidently expectant hope. We ask you to expand our hope and that thriving faith and love would spring from our hearts. Amen.
Watch your mailbox for next month’s newsletter where we’ll be talking about relationships with our adult children. And don’t forget to visit our YouTube channel for extended conversation on some topics of interest to Sage women.
[1] Wright, N. T. (1986). Colossians and Philemon: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 12, p. 56). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
This is so good Judy!! Thank you.