Hang in There

I don’t know about you, but I find it helpful to walk by such a sign as this on a regular basis. I imagine that it was not intended to be a permanent fixture in the yard of this home. No, I imagine that it was put up in faith that the crisis would be short-lived; it was put up in the hope that life would soon return to normal and all would be well.

Yet, here it stands. The sign endures. Day after day, week after week, as season runs into season, it calls out the exhortation to “Hang in There”. In one way, it has become an affirmation. Every time one passes by, they realize they have done that very thing - they have “hung in there”. Reading such a sign again and again and again can become a sort of ritual, a source of encouragement and stability in a unsettled time.

There are verses of scripture that play that role for me across the years of my journey, not just the journey of these past two years but across the journey of my lifetime. From my earliest memories come these words from the Gospel of John:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

God’s love stops at nothing to be made known to us. God’s motives are salvation and reconciliation, not condemnation. The world may not appear to be saved just yet, but the story is not over. God’s love “hangs in there”. That’s why we can “hang in there”. If God is at work in this chaotic world for us, I do not want to miss the results. I want to see what becomes of the world. I’m more than a little curious of what will become of me. What about you? Are you curious as to what will become of you? Then hang in there.

Peace.