My first dream, the hope of my heart from a very young age was to one day be a wife and mother. I planned for it, I imagined it, I wanted it. Did I confidently expect it? Perhaps. Until one day in the sixth grade, a classmate told me she didn’t know who would ever want to marry me. That planted doubt in my young heart.

When I imagined marriage, I hoped for companionship, mutual respect, children, a home, family. Growing old together was a part of it, but I rarely thought about that. I was interested in the years between “I DO” and separation by death.

Dave and I celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary in August. Soon after we were married we started discussing life insurance. As one agent put it, “if Dave made the unfortunate mistake of not waking up the next morning,” we wanted to ensure I and any children would be taken care of without me needing to go back to work. I suppose you could say, at that point, there was something to look forward to after death.

Imagine with me for a moment if the hope of marriage was the financial benefit of collecting on a life insurance policy. If anyone told me that was their hope for marriage, I would tell them they were crazy. There are too many days between “I DO” and that collection. It would be a miserable existence.

I wonder at times if that is the mindset of Jesus followers. We look forward to, hope for heaven but don’t expect the days between “YES” and eternity to be changed by our decision to follow Jesus. Relationship goes by the wayside as Jesus becomes an insurance policy for later.

Hope: looking forward with confident expectation includes every day, every moment, all the inbetween time. It is my expectation, my confident hope, that eternity is taken care of that gives me the grace to love others.

⁴For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of God’s people, ⁵which come from your confident hope of what God has reserved for you in heaven. You have had this expectation ever since you first heard the truth of the Good News.

Colossians 1:4-5

Isn’t that spectacular? When my heart is settled, knowing I am deeply loved, adopted and guaranteed an inheritance, I can love people with abandon. I can share what I have because there is plenty.

And that’s a really comforting reality for this Wednesday!

Happy Hump Day!