I would have never came to such a significant conclusion if I wasn’t watching The Game on a Saturday afternoon.

“Wake up.”

That’s what I whispered to myself during a commercial break of a random tv show.

It was weird and came out of the blue. I wasn’t in a reflective space. I was just waiting for the commercials to end.

Later, I started thinking more about that whisper.

The more I thought about it the whisper began to make sense.

I realized it was a wake up call to rid my heart of residual hope.

Residual hope is the act of keeping a sliver of hope for something or someone, usually a “need-to-go” thing/person.

At one point, you had a lot of hope in that person or thing. But, through disappointment, divine intervention, or some other factor, you took away a lot of the hope you once had. What’s left is the residue.

Hope is great. It’s a sustaining power in the midst of adversity. But, sometimes that hope can leave a bad residue on your life.

You keep a small pocket of baby hope for things or people that you know are not good for you.

You tell yourself and others that you don’t want that thing or person anymore. That you know it will never work out. But the reality is you have a secret pinch of hope that it will happen.

And residual hope is strong. We tether our lives with fishing lines to things we shouldn’t want and don’t need. Those fishing lines are thin and hard to see, but strong and hard to break.

Just because these hope lines aren’t big, thick metal chains doesn’t mean they don’t heavily bind us to mess.

So it’s time to clean up the residue. Untether your hope boat from things or people that have repeatedly served you harm. It’s time to place your hope wholly, fully and firmly in the One deserving of your hope, Jesus.

Hope this helps!
Ambini

How have you cleaned up the residue of hope?