I woke up Wednesday morning to a question in my spirit. What is hope? This seemed like an odd question to start the day. I had garden chores to do before the sun came over the mountain behind us, so I set aside the question and went outside to work. It was a beautiful morning and a pleasure to be out in the garden.
After I finished my chores, I made a cup of coffee and grabbed my prayer journal. I went out on the porch to have some time alone with the Lord. I started by writing down the question that had been in my spirit that morning. What is hope?
Where to start? I prayed, “Come Holy Spirit.” My first thought was that I had written a chapter on hope in my most recent book. That might be a good place to start! I picked up a copy and starting reading the chapter on the power tool of hope. I read through the chapter, jotting down some items that caught my attention. Even though my intellect was presented with some answers to the question on my mind, I did not feel that God had answered the question in my spirit.
As I finished the chapter, I happened to look up. In front of me, about twenty yards away at the back of the pasture, was a flock of wild turkey chicks and the two adult turkeys. I was glad that I had looked up and saw them before making noise and scaring them off! Even though we had seen an occasional wild turkey wandering about, I had never seen baby wild turkeys before. I recorded a video of them in the corner of the pasture.
Several minutes later, the turkeys decided to move. They headed to the right across the pasture, between the gardens. The little chicks were so cute running around! I recorded a little more footage of them. At this point, I thought they were headed back into the woods.
I returned to my journal and the question of the morning. I continued to ask the question, “what is hope?” I felt the Lord wanted me to continue to press into the question because He wanted to show me something.
Twenty minutes later, I turned and looked over my shoulder to see the turkeys behind me next to the driveway! I recorded a brief video of them there as well.
This time, I continued to pay attention to the turkeys to see where they would go next. They headed back into the woods. A few minutes later, I realized they were going to backtrack and walk in front of my garden, potentially coming right in front of where I was sitting. As I waited, camera ready, the turkeys slowly emerged from behind the wall of bee balm growing in front of me.
I recorded the turkeys again as they walked right in front of me from right to left. They wandered down the little hill to the left, but eventually made their way to the back left corner of the pasture where I first saw them. My last sighting of the turkeys was them departing back into the woods right where they had emerged.
As I was smiling, having enjoyed watching the little flock wander about our pasture, I finally realized, “This is hope.”
This is hope. Despite what may be going on in the world, God’s creation is operating. There is new life. God is still in charge. If we slow down and place ourselves in silence, alone with the Lord, we make ourselves available to receive an infilling of hope from the Holy Spirit. Witnessing the flock of wild turkey chicks filled me with hope and my prayer for you is that this story likewise imparts hope into your spirit. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.1 Amen.
Eric A. Welter is an employment lawyer and trial attorney with a long-time devotion to intercessory prayer. He is a Catholic Christian who has been involved with intercessory and healing prayer ministry for over twenty years. The Abound in Hope Ministry website is https://www.aboundinhope.org/ministry.
Eric’s books on prayer are available in paperback or e-book format on amazon.com.
Effective Intercession for Our Loved Ones: Power Tools for Prayer.
(Available on amazon.com in paperback or Kindle.)
Effective Intercession for Ourselves: “Power Tools” for Prayer (Part Two). (Available on amazon.com in paperback or Kindle.)
Romans 15:13. Bible quotations are from the Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition, unless otherwise indicated.