Keep Peace, Hope, Joy and Love Unwrapped All Year

Peace. Hope. Joy. Love.

The words that fall into a season of light, but should be carried with all year long are just about to flee as the clock turns to a new season of resolutions and bullet-points to check off in 365 days. Peace came and went with the wrappings. Hope flew out the window with the family disputes. Joy is for candy-canes. Love took place, propelled us forward, and now looks for something else. These four words and in their four weeks of glory should hold us together all of our days, but don’t always seem to ground us after the final candle if blown out.

What do we do now? To some the new that is to come seems quite bleak. For others, there is adventure on the horizon. Some sit in rest. Others sit in turmoil. All have forgotten quickly and are blindly reaching for the unknown.

The new year should not have us searching, but instead, have us planting. We need to plant ourselves in truth which will keep those four words active and alive in our beings. The Lord has done great things for us and we need to remember that His life, death and resurrection aren’t for two observations a year, but for all days. We need to celebrate Jesus every day. Live like it’s His second Advent and that we will finally see His face.

While we head into a new season, let us remember our four words every day, and keep these promises of peace, hope, joy and love hidden in our hearts to see us through all times.

Peace

John 14:27 NIV

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

Colossians 1:19-20

For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

Hope

Psalm 103:5-7

Who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

The Lord works righteousness
and justice for all the oppressed.

He made known his ways to Moses,
his deeds to the people of Israel

1 Peter 1:3-4

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you