One of my favorite sweatshirts is from Hope College. This is one of three colleges associated the Reformed Church in America. It’s the college where my parents and my grandparents all met one another. It’s a place that’s just referred to as “Hope” in my family.

Over the years, Hope hasn’t been a particularly “hope-filled” place for me. They are pretty well known for not being inclusive of LGBT folks. I’m thankful that I didn’t chose to go there for college. Nonetheless, I love my sweatshirt. It’s as plain as it gets, and just says HOPE on it in big orange letters sewed onto blue fabric.

I love this sweatshirt not because of the college, but because HOPE is a gift from God to all of us. And nothing and no one can ever take that gift away. When you’re up against something that’s really big, and really tough, and feels so hard, remember that the gift of hope is for you.

As we wait in hope for the new life that is found in the birth of Jesus, we wait in hope. Remembering that nothing can separate us from the love of God.