16 September 2020

Have you ever tried Zumba? Or it could be called Tyga or Konga or a myriad of other names. It is a fitness class where you do exercises to music, but the exercises have a Latino, Columbian, Brazilian flavour to them.

I have been going for a while now, not really getting any better in my movements but enjoying it anyway.

I just don’t have that wriggle in my hips, or the agility in my movements, let alone I cannot raise one arm due to an injury in my shoulder years ago. But the laughs that I have, the enjoyment and hopefully the fitness I am achieving spur me on.

I guess I’m hoping I will improve.

I know myself in my ability, but I do try and push myself a bit too, to try a bit harder.

I’m learning more about myself as I get older that I know my abilities, but I also can strive to do more – I’m not done yet!

I love a good joke (you’ll see some of these on my Instagram page) and I often find things, circumstances funny but I may be the only one. My middle daughter, Adrienne, described it one day as “Mum you’re like you’re having so much fun at your own party, but you forgot to invite anyone.”

So, if I’m enjoying the joke maybe I can try and share it with others for their enjoyment. I’m hoping I can spread joy.

Reflecting on this, it’s like I want to go above and beyond the normal, my normal. I’m not comparing myself as such to anyone but competing with myself. There is this extra, other that I can do.

So, I hope to improve in my fitness and in my joy spreading. What else?

Why this spurt of energy to do the other, to go above and beyond? Is it to get a sense of achievement or is it more than this?

Internally reflecting deeply into my spirit, the “Rosemary” deep inside desires, dreams, hopes……. Way more than just getting better at Zumba……

What is this hope? Who or what am I hoping in?

Do I bounce back when my hopes are disappointed, lost even? Do I doubt when I lose that hope? Even the strongest Christians can find it a challenge to find hope, in different times, different situations.

It was described so well by an ex-prisoner on a television program I was watching and also by the disciple Paul in the Bible.

Firstly, this ex-prisoner who had been incarcerated for 12 years for committing a murder he did not do and had been exonerated was asked “What kept Him going?”

He answered “The HOPE that today was the day that the letter would come that would declare my innocence. That today I would be set free….”

Then in the letter to the Thessalonians by Paul

³ We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by HOPE in our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Thessalonians 1:3 (NIV)

It was the HOPE in both cases that spurred, gave endurance to – the ex-prisoner, the Thessalonians.

Faith in our God is the HOPE we rely on. Sometimes it is not seen yet in all things…but it will come. He is Faithful. He never leaves us.

11 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Hebrews 11:11 (NRSV)

I truly desire everyone to live in that HOPE. Not just on the surface level of an improvement in an exercise class, or in telling jokes but in that deep spreading of joy and knowledge and knowing of the HOPE that is eternal. That is for NOW living on this earth and forever.

The Hope of complete freedom for always, starting now……

Hope is what pushes us to seek for more.

The story of that ex-prisoner is not yet fully written. He had started on the Camino de Santiago Walk across the top of Spain. He was searching for something…. For peace… he was not sure…. But I know that the unrelenting LOVE of God is walking with him, helping him find what his heart, his spirit is looking for.

What is your Hope that you seek? Have you already found it? But is there more?????

I’m still not satisfied that I have found it completely. This Hope in Christ is what spurs me on to want to achieve more in my life. This Hope and confidence that the good works in me will be brought to completion.

And this is my prayer as in Ephesians 1:18

¹⁸ I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people…

Ephesians 1:18 (NIV)

May these jottings from my journal inspire you to believe in and fall in love with Christ- the hope of the world, as stated in Jeremiah 17:7, ‘Blessed is the man who believes and trusts in and relies on the Lord and whose hope and confident expectation is the Lord!’

Love

Rosemary

Every week groups of ladies meet together to chat about the things I raise in my weekly blog post and to chat about life in general. We call these ‘Heart Connect’ groups. If you would like more information please click HERE.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

What is your Hope that you seek?

Have you already found it?

But is there more?????