Four letter words

I admit it!  I like listening to pop music.  Sometimes as I'm singing along to a catchy tune, I will realize that the words are inappropriate and I quickly change the channel.  But other times, I hear great theology in a song (which I imagine wasn't what the artists meant, but it still works for me).  One of those songs is Counting Stars by the band One Republic.  Besides reminding me of Romans 7:15*, the song has a great line:

"Hope is a four-letter word..." 

Which I identify with.  Hope is a scary, scary concept.  Think about the statement, "Don't get your hopes up."  Being hopeful can be very hard when there is evidence of evil all around us.  Heck, being hopeful is difficult even when nothing particularly bad happens.

I often equate hope with joy:  neither are synonyms for happiness.  Both hope and joy are much deeper than that.  Hope and joy are rooted in our souls, but can easily be hidden in a heap of fear and anger.

So the scary part is allowing hope to push up through the crap that is fear and allow it to see the light of day... all the while knowing that opening our hearts like that can lead to great joy and love...and great heart-break.

Other scary four-letter words:

* I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.