Hopes and Dreams (04/20/2026)

Yesterday, as I took a break on my porch, I watched more than one robin gathering grasses and small trigs and even some string. It made me smile because I knew what they were up to, I knew they were setting up their home for the season and building their nests. And I thought of myself years ago setting up our house and trying to make it a home. I recalled my hopes and my dreams. Do you think robins have hopes and dreams or is it all instinct?

I remembered the first time my husband and I “set up our house” and tried to make it a home. We had little to nothing, a small savings account and wedding gifts. Our first year was rough with a move to Minnesota, new jobs, a new apartment and no friends but we had faith, hopes, and love. I remember our long conversations about what we hoped we could build as a couple and a family. I remember our first Christmas. We had so little: a 3 foot tree with no lights but full of colorful hand-crafted origami ornaments and 2 gifts – a framed photo of me for Ken to take to the Army when he had to report in January and a locket for me with his photo inside.

I remember the years that followed, the birth of our three children, the numerous relocations, the struggle to “build our nest” in so many different places. But we kept having those talks, sharing those hopes, working on those dreams while practicing our faith and trying with all our might to make each day a new opportunity to love one another well.

Saturday was my grandson’s fiancé’s shower. I sat and watched as she, surrounded by family and friends, opened her gifts and chatted non-stop, sharing ideas, hopes, dreams, and stories. I felt blessed to be able to see into their “build our nest” hopes and dreams. I found myself praying for her as she went along the day that she’d discover early what it took me so long to realize – to lean on faith, to allow the hopes to lift you, and to promise to love well every day regardless of what was going on around you.

We are like the robin, I believe, in that we want to “build a nest.” We want to produce something or someone who carries on. I’m not sure if robins have hopes and dreams, as I said, maybe they only have instinct. I know they lack the human will. And it is that will that must learn to surrender to our LORD because no one wants us to make a home, an eternal home, more than the LORD who daily sustains the “nest” in which we live.

As we continue on our Easter season journeys, filled with joy at the truth of our risen Lord who proved His love for both us and the Father, let us pray for the gift of the Spirit to strengthen our faith, to increase our hope, and to transform us with love so we might be the ones the LORD hopes us to be. And may we daily thank the LORD for the gifts of faith, hope and love, the greatest of which is love.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.