DAY 6: What Does Hope Look Like?

I recently saw a child's T-shirt that said, “Color My World with Hope” with all kinds of rainbows on it. In this Advent season, that got me wondering, what does hope look like? How do we comprehend it, notice it, color it?
 
For the prophet Isaiah, Hope looked like Yahweh. In Isaiah 2:1-4, I often like to focus on the image of “swords being beaten into plowshares” as a beautiful picture of serenity and peace. But what comes before that? In this passage God’s judgement precedes peace, not after. Isaiah’s vision is not about Zion subduing the surrounding peoples militarily, but on hailing the special nature of Zion precisely because that is where God resides, with God’s people. God’s presence is attractive and draws them there. It is God’s presence which forever changes hearts and history, bringing love, instruction, judgement, and peace. Hope looks like Yahweh.
 
Let us, this Advent Season as we prepare again for the coming of the Christ child, see again with new eyes what true Hope looks like. Let us not be drawn for what this baby can do for us in the future, but simply by who he is now. We, in turn will be changed. Our history taking a new path as we realize that Hope looks like God Incarnate. Can we color our world with that hopeful message?