In a world currently plagued by natural disasters, disease, and the unending feeling of life being put on hold, it is difficult to find hope. I have begun volunteering as a youth leader at my church and when we asked the kids for prayer requests, one of them heartily said “motivation”. When we delved deeper into the topic and the request itself, every kid put up their hand when I asked if they were struggling to find a reason to get up in the morning.
I am talking 14-15 year old’s. These poor kids are barely a quarter way through their life and they are struggling to find motivation to do everyday things. To get out of bed in the morning. It is more than a temporary fleeting of passion. This is on a soul level.
Honestly, the last two-three weeks have been very hard for me as well when it comes to hope. Just finding a passion in the every day mundane and finding something worth getting up for. Honestly, sleeping is easier. In a way it is like you are not there. You no longer have to think or put in effort and everything is just silent for a while.
With being constantly surrounded by death and fear and just this overarching sense of uncertainty, it is difficult to look for the good in every day. To feel like you have a purpose. Especially if you do not know what the future is going to look like.
Even I know what the future is going to look like and that does not always stop me from being worried and feeling like I do not have a purpose. See this where the flipside comes on this hope complex idea.
I have hope. I know where my future lies, it is with Jesus and God. My life is only the beginning, and death is not the end. Right now this is the prelude. So while I hope, and I get up, and I am passionate, there is also the flipside of this lack of motivation where I look at life and I just think ‘ah, I’d rather not’.
Where I think I would prefer to already be in Heaven with God. Not in the sense of dying per se. I do not always want to die or even envision it. However, there is an inexplicable feeling of not belonging on Earth at times. This only makes it more difficult. Difficult to find motivation for the mundane when I know I have an extraordinary calling and an incredible God.
I am not exactly sure what the point of this blog post is. I know for one thing, hope is important. Hope is the driving force behind human existence. Without hope we are nothing but zombies wandering aimlessly around. We are very quick to fade into the wood work when we are called to be apart from it.
No matter how crazy the world gets, our divine purpose does not change. It does not shift. If it is because of the mundane you are struggling to get up, please realize the world is more than it appears to be. Everyday can be extraordinary. It depends on what you make it. Yeah sometimes you are going to have bad days but do you realize how much life can change in a single second?
How much you can change the world in the blink of an eye?
Like seriously, one smile to an odd stranger could change their entire day. Your life has purpose and your life has meaning here on Earth. You are supposed to be here. God has a plan. Sometimes we do not know it and we lose sight of it in what appears to be the hopelessness of this generation but you have a hope and a life and God is that. He is guiding you and He loves you.
Please be encouraged. Life is so much more than this span of time. It is more than just the every day same routine. It is more than pandemic and fear and grief and amotivation. God wants more for you than the kind of life where it is the same old same old but you need to be willing to put in the work. To fight to uncover what He holds. To get up and make that effort. Sometimes we need to create the kind of life we want to live.
God thank you for my never-ending hope! Thank you God that I can find you in the incredible, supernatural events but that you can also be found in the little small details. Father you are good and you guide our path.
God I pray for the hopeless. For those lacking a purpose, lacking motivation. For the dryness of the time and even the sense of an uncertain and unknown future. Father we may not know but you do. You know better than we ever could. You guide us. You hold us. Thank you for being near to us. I pray you would continue to build your kingdom here and give me the understanding on how to better bring it here as well.
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen.
God bless you all!
~ Ashley
P.S. My brain was really not functioning for this but I hope it was coherent and encouraging!
A Light in The Darkness 