But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
"But this I call to mind." Before the famous line about mercy being new every morning, there's a smaller phrase that's easy to skip past — the writer had to choose to remember it. Hope, here, isn't a feeling that just showed up. It's something he deliberately brought back to mind in the middle of a book that's otherwise full of grief.
That's a more honest picture of hope than most people expect. It's not always the first thought. Sometimes it's the thing you have to go looking for, on purpose, when the first thoughts are all heavy.
If today has been more grief than gratitude, you're in good company with whoever wrote this. The verse doesn't ask you to pretend the hard year didn't happen. It just points to one thing worth calling to mind anyway — that whatever is actually good and faithful hasn't run out.
If hope hasn't been your first thought lately, it might still be worth going looking for on purpose.
A short video on this is coming soon — for now, read on.