Waiting and Hoping

   I am on my way back downtown for more lab work today.  The sun is shining (a welcomed surprise), I am still not hungry (no surprise), and I also have little energy (also no surprise).  But I am buoyed by the idea that my children have Friday and Monday off from school so that means more cribbage, Monopoly, and maybe a road trip somewhere just to get out of the house.  That would be good.  I received a care package of sorts from the French class at school.  In it were some random items that made me smile, including one of the least expensive "paste-on-the-wall" basketball hoops that has ever been manufactured.  I think that one will stay in the package and be permanently hung up at school somewhere.  I can see some blow-out games of hoops coming soon!
   Psalm 130 is from a collection of psalms called "songs of ascent."  According to tradition, these were sung by the Jewish travelers on their way to worship in Jerusalem.  They were on their way expecting the City of David to welcome them as worshippers of the one true God and are filled with hope and expectation.  In Psalm 130, the words "wait" and "hope" are used in comparison to each other:

"I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,

and in his word I put my hope.

My soul waits for the Lord,

more than watchmen wait for the morning,

more than watchmen wait for the morning.

O Israel, put your hope in the Lord,

for with the Lord is unfailing love..." (Ps.130:5-7)

    As I wait, is my hope increasing?  Do I always remember that with the Lord there is unfailing love?  I have gone through times lately where waiting and hoping are two different entities, but they should work in partnership.  This was my not-so-subtle slap upside the head that God delivered today.  "Wait and hope" does not mean "wait or hope."  Expectation must accompany the waiting, for in that hope is unfailing love.  Thanks God.  I will try to do better.