“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)
Well it turns out that Friday June 3 was ‘National Doughnut Day’!
Who knew?
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.
Again, Who knew?
I’ve been reflecting lately on the concept of hope. And due to recently learning about ‘National Doughnut Day’, I’ve had the concept 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?
When I started working in 1990 amongst folks who live on the streets, part of my job as the cook in the drop-in I worked at was to take empty garbage bags to the Eaton Center every night before my shift ended, and walk through that mall collecting unsold doughnuts that would otherwise have been thrown out. I’d always come back with 3 full bags of treats ready to serve the next day to the folks who came through our doors. Everyone loves doughnuts, no matter how rich or poor you are.
They even the playing field.
(Well sort of. The ones we served were a day old. But that’s another blog for another time)
Everyone loves doughnuts. And even though they have tons of potential to increase our waistlines and add to our issues with diabetes, 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? Absolutely not.
Or at least I 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.
Because if I can do that, I’ll hopefully become, well, more hopeful.
Peace
Dion