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My sister awakened one day with the phrase “dash of hope”.  After thinking about it for a long time and wondering what it could mean, she was sure God was saying something to her.  While attending a Bible study group she overheard someone talking about observing head stones in a cemetery and noticing that each had one thing in common – a date of birth and a date of death with a “dash” in the middle.  They commented that the dash represented life here on earth.   After a word study of the word hope she concluded that we must put our hope in God, not in this life.  She said, “The scripture that most stood out to me was 1 Corinthians 15:19 which says, ‘If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.’ I’m sure that God has much more to say to me about this dash of hope, but right now, I have a new perspective on how to view life. It is eternal and I have to live with an eternal perspective and quit putting my hope in this life on earth – the dash between my birth and death.  There is a much bigger picture.”

As we face the myriad of changes that are overtaking us in times of great transition we must remember that it is in the “dash” that human choices are made but our beginning and end remains in the hands of God.  Every human that is born lives under the sovereign decree that death will come to them.  It is the in-between where we choose as to whether we will serve God or not.  If we serve Him, we can be assured that we have hope in the “dash” and for an eternal future.  If we do not serve Him, only the “dash” remains and death becomes an end.

It is God that reconciles our natural history to a purpose for this life.  When we choose to walk with Him, embracing His purpose for our life, we discover our destiny and we are enabled to fill our time on this earth with an eternal understanding of the “dash”.  We know we are here by His choosing and that we serve something greater than this life and our own agenda.  He calls us to Himself, we answer that call, and He takes our life and reveals to us who we are in Him and we reflect that to those people we encounter.  The lasting effect is left to Him as He is displayed in the earth through those who know Him.

In this we have hope.  Our life is made for something greater than ourselves.  In a day when most are “lovers of their own selves” (2 Timothy 3:2) we have the eternal hope that our life is more than a “dash” and then we are gone.  We know that our lives are eternal and every day we have the opportunity to be the “light” and “salt” in a world desperately darkened and without preservation.

Now is the time to live our “dash”.  We have purpose in knowing we are the sons of God and our destiny is to show forth His character and nature to those around us.  Selah.