How?

Watching the news, following politics, or just watching ordinary people and their actions, it's difficult to avoid the question of how? How will our weak-minded excuse of a Congress ever get anything done? How will the economy ever recover? How will I get disinterested teenagers to care about their education? How can I send my daughters out into the world and hope for the best? How will the college football world ever fix the BCS bowl mess?

Okay, some of these questions are more important than others, but it's tough to have hope for whatever one wants to hope in without seeing how something might be done. It's easier and more logical to be cynical. I have relationships in my life that I'd like to be better, but I can't see how that will ever be possible. I love to dream big with my life, but some of my dreams come with no "how" map. I want to believe that the public school system will be better, that our government will be better, and that small towns and small schools in Iowa have a bright and growing future. I just don't see how. Without the "how," there's no real hope.

I've lost hope in a lot, and I don't believe unreasonably so. Facts are facts: it does no good to delude myself into embracing impossible utopias in the name of being a "positive person." It's important to keep searching for "how's" with the really important stuff - curing cancer, overcoming hunger, that sort of thing - even when the answer is so hard to come by. But sometimes a spade is a spade is a spade.

I was reminded, though, on Christmas morning, that the answer of "how" to so many questions can be answered quite simply. The text in church was from Isaiah's prophecy in Chapter 9:

"For unto us a Child is born,

Unto us a Son is given;

And the government will be upon His shoulder.

And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor,

Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. . .

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. (9:6-7)

In an impossible time, among a people desperate for something different and something better, Isaiah tells them it's going to fine. How? The zeal of the Lord. If it is his will, it will be done. Virgin mother? No problem. Betrayal? Easy. Ridiculously ineffective religious leaders? Who needs them. A little omniscient zeal works every time, in all times, with all peoples. If you're going his way, if you've got a kingdom agenda, "how" is a much easier question to answer.

How will I reconcile a hopeless relationship? How will I find the energy to pray? How will I be forgiven for the black deeds in my life? How will I, in all my weaknesses, become who God has designed me to be? How will I lead my children through the minefield of a me-first American culture hell-bent on handouts and hubris?

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. . .