Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.
Hebrews 10:23

Reflecting on our year is not always easy. It can make us anxious as we remember interactions with parents or children that were difficult. It can make us sad as we think of the students who are moving on to a different classroom or school. It can make us joyful as we remember all the silly things that only young children will say. Reflecting is hard because it is looking backwards. Whatever emotions it brings to the surface, they can be hard to manage because those things are in the past. They cannot be changed and we cannot go back to them.

In our passage from Hebrews today, we are asked not to look back but to look forward. That word “hope” is a word used in anticipation. We are eagerly awaiting something that will happen in the future. And we are not hoping in the sense that we really want something to happen but are not sure that it will. We are hoping in the sense that we have complete trust in God that it will happen.

The hope we profess is that Jesus will come again and take us to our true home someday. Through Jesus’ blood on the cross he has won us a place in heaven, where we will spend eternity with him. Every promise that God made about heaven will come true, for he is faithful to his promises. There will be no more pain, crying, or death (Revelation 21:4); no hunger or thirst (Revelation 7:16-17); there will be nothing impure (Revelation 21:27); we will have our very own house built by God (John 14:2, 2 Corinthians 5:1); and best of all, we belong there with Jesus (Philippians 3:20.)

As we reflect on the past year and even look ahead to the next year, let us not lose sight of what is still to come for us, an eternal home in heaven.

Prayer:
Jesus, your Church, with longing eyes
for your expected coming waits.
When will the promised light arise
and glory beam from heaven’s gates?

Teach us in watchfulness and prayer
to wait for your appointed hour,
And fit us by your grace to share
the triumphs of your conqu’ring pow’r.
(Christian Worship: A Lutheran Hymnal-9 v. 1 & 5)