Can you picture two lovers without them having all kinds of hopes and dreams? I can’t. Hope thrives on love because real love is intrinsically hopeful, it wants to hope, it can’t help it. Love has the fragrance of hope, and in my case the scent of Wild Musk, at least when it comes to Susie. You spray a little Wild Musk into the air anywhere and anytime and immediately I will think of and look for Susie, it will instantly awaken my lover’s heart for her.Have you ever driven by or walked through an orange or lemon orchard when it is in bloom? If you have, you know what overpowering fragrance is like. Even the few citrus trees in front of my house spread out a blanket of sweet perfume in the springtime – glorious. The weeds surrounding those trees don’t do that and so I treat them differently, I spray them with Round-Up (weed killer) while I fertilize the orange, grapefruit, lime, lemon, and mandarin trees. I have no hopes and dreams for the weeds other than to eradicate them, but I smile at just the thought of those trees blooming, I can picture the beauty of the bright colors of the fruit against the dark green leaves, and I am hoping that this year we will get to harvest more sweet fruit than ever, enough for us and to share.Hope is fueled by love and love is never without hope, but they are also not without hate. Neither of them have any affection for evil, for that which is unloving, which is incompatible with love and hope, which erodes them, destroys them. It is that very reality which makes all of this so difficult, and often makes us unloving, destroyers of hope. After all, how do we decide what and who to legitimately love or hate? What should we hope for in terms of what should be and what should be eradicated? “I (Jesu Christ) say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you… love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful” Luke 6:27-28, 35-36 (ESV, parenthesis mine).It is one of, if not the great challenge of lovers, dealing with that in ourselves and the other which isn’t so lovely, which is more weed than delicious fruit, which threatens and attacks the love we feel and the hopes and dreams we have, even the things that are legitimate to hate. For example, “Here are six things GOD hates, and one more that he loathes with a passion: eyes that are arrogant, a tongue that lies, hands that murder the innocent, a heart that hatches evil plots, feet that race down a wicked track, a mouth that lies under oath, a troublemaker in the family” Proverbs 6:16-19 (MSG).I want to love, I want to hope, in fact I am certain God wants me and you to be committed to both. It is one of the reasons I try to stick as close to God as I can, I need his help, I need him to guide me and teach me on this. He is the greatest lover and hoper there is. I on the other hand am prone to be narrow in my love, depraved in my hopes, selective in my mercy. I easily love what I should hate and hate what I should love. I have even hurt those whom I profess to love, squelched legitimate hopes and dreams, acted more like a stink weed than an orange blossom. Oh to get love and hope right.To God be all glory. Happy Valentines. Pastor Hans