Hope is in what?

Whew...I am so worn out. Shopping, baking, sending out TONS of cards, parties, decorating, traveling. Christmas...what a great season but one heck of a busy one. I helped with a children's party today and oh to see their eyes light up when they learned about Jesus. Wow! I sure wish my eyes lit up like that. To have the faith of a child. I just hope that they know the true reason we celebrate Christmas, the birth of our Savior.
I am studying my Sunday school lesson. It is from 1 Peter chapter 1. It is about having hope. Not the kind of hope people wish desperately for a favorable outcome but the hope that only God can give. The confident expectation that the promises God says he will do, will be done.
God has blessed me beyond measure this year. I don't deserve anything he has given me: a great job, faithful friends and family, a home, transportation, great church, good health. Everyday God gives me so much. I hope he knows that I am thankful, even though I sometimes don't show him.
From The Message
1 Peter 1:13-16 A Future In God
So roll up your sleeves, put your mind in gear, be totally ready to receive the gift that's coming when Jesus arrives.Don't lazily slip back into those old grooves of evil, doing just what you feel like doing. You didn't know any better then, you do now. As obedient children, let yourselves be pulled into a way of life shaped by God's life, a life energetic and blazing with hiliness. God said, "I am holy, you be holy."
Lord, let my hope be only in you. Amen.