“Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Saviour, and my hope is in you all day long.” (Psalms 25:5)

Friday June 2 was ‘National Doughnut Day’!
This is only the 2^nd year that I’ve known this day even exists.

Apparently, this day was established by The Salvation Army in 1938 when women from our organization served these yummy treats as a form of respite and some nourishment to soldiers fighting in the war.

As our missional theme for the month of June is the concept of ‘hope’, I’ve once again had the ideas of ‘hope’ and ‘doughnuts’ smashing into one another in my head. You’d think that would be a good thing but quite honestly, the jury is still out on that.

It’s interesting to consider the power of the mighty doughnut.

These tasty goodies are everywhere. You can’t live in this country and travel even a block or two without coming across a place that sells doughnuts to the masses.

On the other hand, sometimes HOPE seems in much shorter supply. Why is that?

Everyone loves doughnuts, no matter how rich or poor you are.

They can actually even the playing field.

Even though they have tons of potential to increase our waistlines and add to our struggles with different health issues, no one seems to be afraid of them.

‘Hope’, on the other hand, elicits a ton of fear.

People, myself included, are often afraid to hope, for fear of being let down and having hopes dashed. So sometimes hope is quashed for the sake of self-preservation and replaced by, well, doughnuts.

Where does my hope lie? In the doughnut?
I sure HOPE not.

I actually believe that if I place my hope anywhere else but in God, it only leads to emptiness.

If my hope were to lie in the doughnut, or drugs, or television, or sex, or anything else I can think of, then I’m placing my hope in all the wrong places. And that can lead to the destruction of my body, mind and soul.

I like doughnuts A LOT! But I’m hoping they don’t dominate where my true hope rests. And that hope is in the God of all creation, the Great Physician, the Lord of all life, the source of all wholeness.

So the next time I indulge in a doughnut, maybe I’ll try and let it remind me of where my true hope rests. If I can do that, I’ll hopefully become, well, more hopeful.

Let’s keep trying to place our hope where it belongs as we continue to strive to be The Hand of God in the Heart of the City.

Peace,
Dion