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7. Hope Begins... - Thursday Morning · Family Prayer Podcast

• 0:00
  Good morning, Grace Harbor. It's Dan.
• 0:03
  Happy Thursday.
• 0:04
  Thanks to yesterday's big Christmas party,
• 0:07
  I didn't get to bed until way later than normal.
• 0:11
  But you know what?
• 0:12
  I feel filled up to the brim with love for our town and the Christmas spirit.
• 0:17
  I may also still be on a sugar rush from all the hot
• 0:20
  chocolate and cookies I had, but hey, totally worth it.
• 0:25
  I want to go back to something we talked about earlier this week.
• 0:29
  Advent.
• 0:30
  Do you remember what Advent is?
• 0:33
  It's the time when we get our hearts ready for Christmas.
• 0:37
  And each of the four weeks has its own special theme.
• 0:40
  And the theme for this week is hope.
• 0:43
  I'll bet
• 0:44
  hope is a word you hear a lot.
• 0:47
  You might even say it a lot too.
• 0:49
  We say things like, “I hope we have something good for dinner tonight.”
• 0:53
  Or when someone says something like, “I think we're having pizza tonight.”
• 0:57
  I would say, “I sure hope so.
• 0:59
  Pizza is my favorite.”
• 1:02
  Hope is
• 1:02
  about looking forward to something good
• 1:05
  that hasn't happened yet. Which is why
• 1:08
  it's the perfect word for the start of advent.
• 1:11
  Christmas is exactly three weeks away,
• 1:14
  so we still have some waiting to do.
• 1:17
  But what's cool is that while some of the things we might hope for
• 1:22
  might not come true, like pizza for dinner every night, the good thing
• 1:26
  we look forward to at Christmas actually already happened.
• 1:31
  We remember and celebrate when Jesus came to be
• 1:33
  with us and show us God's love.
• 1:37
  What we hope for now is that God's love
• 1:39
  becomes more real to us each day, and as it becomes
• 1:44
  more real, it makes us want to share that love with others.
• 1:48
  As we get ready to head out into our day,
• 1:51
  what's something you're hoping for now?
• 1:54
  I know that because I'm a pastor and I've been talking about hoping
• 1:58
  for the love of God, you might feel like you have to give a really serious answer.
• 2:04
  But you know what?
• 2:05
  Hope comes in all shapes and sizes.
• 2:08
  So feel free to be as serious or as silly as you want.
• 2:12
  But what I want you to remember is that hope
• 2:15
  is about looking forward to something good.
• 2:18
  You can hope for a giant space alien to land on the roof of your school,
• 2:22
  but I want you to be able to tell us why that's good.
• 2:26
  I mean, maybe she brought tasty alien snacks.
• 2:30
  Okay.
• 2:31
  Take a few moments to think about something you're hoping for.
• 2:35
  Share with each other what you're hoping for and why
• 2:38
  it would be good if that thing happened.
• 2:41
  If you need more time, you can pause this podcast,
• 2:44
  and I'll be right here when you get back.
• 3:14
  All done?
• 3:15
  Great.
• 3:16
  Now, I had an idea this week.
• 3:19
  Each day I've been inviting you to think about such fun and meaningful things.
• 3:24
  And then you get to share them with each other.
• 3:26
  And that's cool.
• 3:28
  But you know what? I think would be even cooler
• 3:31
  if you could share some of these things
• 3:33
  with all the other families who are listening to the podcast, too.
• 3:37
  So if you want to share your hopes with the other families
• 3:40
  listening, ask your grown up to check the show notes.
• 3:43
  I can't wait to hear your answers.
• 3:46
  In fact, I hope that lots of
• 3:48
  you will send stuff in because it would be good
• 3:51
  to get to hear them in a future episode. When we listen to each other,
• 3:56
  I think it'll really help us know that there are other families
• 3:59
  out there who care about stuff like this too.
• 4:02
  Okay.
• 4:03
  Why don't we pray before we head out into our Thursday?
• 4:06
  If you want to
• 4:07
  you can close your eyes and fold your hands.
• 4:10
  Dear God,
• 4:11
  we thank you that we can get as excited as we want about your love for us.
• 4:16
  And while we're waiting for the big celebration on Christmas,
• 4:20
  we know you already love us
• 4:22
  every day. Amen.
• 4:25
  All right, friends.
• 4:26
  Have a great Thursday and I'll talk to you tonight.