Hope in the Air (03/03/2026)

The last couple of weeks, I have longed for hope and prayed for hope. And Sunday, as I sat on my porch and prayed, I heard it coming from the air above. The sandhill cranes were flying overhead. They were coming back. And I told myself that spring won’t be far behind.

We are a people of faith fueled by love, but we must have hope. Years ago, as I was studying for my first degree, I learned of the horrors of the concentration camps of World War II and of the different “scientific studies” they performed. There was one that totally surprised me, and 30 years later, it still remains with me.

The camp officials separated a group from the others, gave them warm housing, warm clothes, and ample meals daily. They assigned them the task of digging a hole to certain specifications. These Jewish prisoners worked tirelessly to do just that. And when it was complete, they were called to witness the measurements. And when it was agreed they’d completed their tasks, they were told to fill the hole back up. This went on for some time: a hole with certain specifications was ordered; the workers worked to complete the order to specification; the workers were called together to certify that they’d done what they’d been ordered to do; the workers were commanded to fill the hole back in so there was no sign that it ever existed. And within a year, these well treated and provided for prisoners began to die at a higher rate than their counterparts across the fence who were starving in inadequately heated housing and laboring mercilessly to people who daily abused them.

The lesson I learned from those studies was the importance of hope to human mind, heart, and soul. We need hope. And we who follow Christ are given that hope. He is “the way and the truth and the life.” With Christ, we know that He is with us always and that when our time on this earth ends, if we live as He has commanded and love as He has modeled, that He has prepared a place for His faithful with Him, a place of light, a place of love, a place of life, life in abundance. We are able to endure hardships because we have hope.

As we continue our journeys during this Lenten season, making sacrifices for love of our LORD and one another, seeking to turn ourselves closer to Christ, better able to learn Him, love Him, and live Him, let us cling to the hope He has given us all in His words and in His life. As we go forth knowing there was a Good Friday, that our Savior died, we can cling to the hope of Easter and the knowledge that He rose. We are people of hope – we are people of the resurrection who gather to give our Almighty Father praise for the gift of His beloved Son on Sunday – the day of the resurrection. Let us hold these truths and savor them. We are people of hope. Spring is on its way.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.