Waiting for What We Don't Have

"Let no one lose hope..." said the little boy, looking at the dejected army cowering in the face of their enemy.
I had read the story thousands of times, even before I was a Christian. Everyone knows the story of David and Goliath, and everyone knows its message. The impossible giant of an adversary laughs at David's brave words, and so does the army on his own side. They had lost hope, despite what he advises, and that is probably the only reason they gave David a chance.They sent the scrawny little child against the giant no one else could fell....and we all know the result. Slingshots became the weapon of choice for several generations and a cash cow for the Israeli ToysRUs.

In our Bible study yesterday, Asherel commented on the verse in Romans 8:
²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

"This is strange," she noted, "Because when I hope for something, I usually am not very patient. I want it now."

She is not alone. I sure don't wait patiently, especially when it is something I don't have. I can wait patiently all day if I have everything I want stacked around me, and perfection is knocking at my door. (Which happens exactly never.) But in that passage in Romans, Paul explains that hope is waiting for what we do not have. If we have it, it isn't hope. This is a very interesting concept, and one I had not really chewed on before.  Paul tells us it is not hope if it is something seen, something we already clutch. Hope is clutching for something out of reach. And God is telling us that those things we don't yet have...that is what we hope for.... and we should not give up. Ever.

We tested the thousandth Science Olympiad helicopter Asherel made yesterday. She spends a good several hours every day on her helicopter. I read her lessons to her( and if anyone understands graphing inequalities, I am all ears.....)
But while I read, and relearn highschool, and struggle probably more than she to understand things like brachycatalexis in poetry which everyone knows is subtracting one or more unstressed syllables in a line of poetry (?), she builds her helicopter.

And then after working so so hard, with both of our nerves fraying from the constant unending work, the helicopter broke....again. The stupid rotor hook keeps snapping away from the motor stick, despite mounds of glue. She just doesn't know what to do differently and I have no idea how to advise her. Meanwhile, time does not stand still, despite theorizing that indeed it does at times and may explain why the earth seems so old but the Bible claims it is young. So our contest date is looming, and we can't give up. We just can't. But we so want to....

This morning while the discouraged Asherel slept, I brought the helicopter to my husband , Arvo, and asked his advice. He has not really been at all involved in the building of the helicopter so I didn't really have hope that he could help us. I was tossing David in to fight Goliath because nothing else worked. Might as well.....
And he came up with a creative idea that I think just might work..... I can't wait for the little unhappy aviator to awaken. But I will wait.... I will wait patiently for what I do not have because I have hope again!

Romans 8:24-26

²⁴ For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
 ²⁶ In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.