In Hebrews 6:19, the hope for our souls is described as an anchor, firm and secure. But lately, it seems to me that God's hope doesn't so much anchor us down, as holds us up.
His hope keeps us afloat.
Now hopelessness?
That's heavy.
It feels like lugging around lead boots on your feet. It's sure to drag you down and sink you to the bottom of the sea.
If that's you today. If you feel like you're taking on water or fear that you might drown.
I pray for you
That our God of hope would fill you again
That he'd inflate you bigger and bigger
Fuller and fuller
So that you would swell with hope
And rise again, friend
Weightless with his love
Buoyant with his peace
That you'd bob, bob, bob, about with joy
Dancing across the surface of the oceans deep
Undeterred by the storm-tossed waves
Yes, I pray that God's hope would keep you afloat.
And please, know that you're not some isolated boat
or dinghy lost in the vastness of the ocean.
There is an 'us' out there on the waters with you
And we're all holding onto this hope too, you know.
Let 'us' be tethered to hopeLet 'us' be tethered to hope
With fisherman's knots, taut and uncompromising.
Together we are a great body of vessels
Together we are a great fleet for him
Propelling one another into love Driving one another into good action.
Some voyaging overseas And others in harbours closer to home.
All of us adventuring
We rescue other sinking ships
We drag people out of the water
We share out hope and see them filled too.
Weightless with his love
Buoyant with his peace
Bob, bob, bob, about with joy
Dancing across the surface of the oceans deep
Undeterred by the storm-tossed waves.
Yes, together is better
We weren't meant to do this on our own
Together we are a Fleet
Together friends, we can be a force for hope.
Bex Lawton, CMF Associate Head of Nurses & Midwives is a paediatric nurse in Oxford, and CMF's 'Poet in Residence'
Illustration by Sarah Louise Bedford
His hope keeps us afloat.
Now hopelessness?
That's heavy.
It feels like lugging around lead boots on your feet. It's sure to drag you down and sink you to the bottom of the sea.
If that's you today. If you feel like you're taking on water or fear that you might drown.
I pray for you
That our God of hope would fill you again
That he'd inflate you bigger and bigger
Fuller and fuller
So that you would swell with hope
And rise again, friend
Weightless with his love
Buoyant with his peace
That you'd bob, bob, bob, about with joy
Dancing across the surface of the oceans deep
Undeterred by the storm-tossed waves
Yes, I pray that God's hope would keep you afloat.
And please, know that you're not some isolated boat
or dinghy lost in the vastness of the ocean.
There is an 'us' out there on the waters with you
And we're all holding onto this hope too, you know.
Let 'us' be tethered to hopeLet 'us' be tethered to hope
With fisherman's knots, taut and uncompromising.
Together we are a great body of vessels
Together we are a great fleet for him
Propelling one another into love Driving one another into good action.
Some voyaging overseas And others in harbours closer to home.
All of us adventuring
We rescue other sinking ships
We drag people out of the water
We share out hope and see them filled too.
Weightless with his love
Buoyant with his peace
Bob, bob, bob, about with joy
Dancing across the surface of the oceans deep
Undeterred by the storm-tossed waves.
Yes, together is better
We weren't meant to do this on our own
Together we are a Fleet
Together friends, we can be a force for hope.
Bex Lawton, CMF Associate Head of Nurses & Midwives is a paediatric nurse in Oxford, and CMF's 'Poet in Residence'
Illustration by Sarah Louise Bedford
