Against All Hope

"There is no worse death than the loss of hope."

(King Arthur, 2004)

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Don't we all know the truth of it? Haven't we all, in our own fashion, through the weary twists and turns of the preceding scenes and chapters of our lives faced even such a death as this - the agonizing despair that is by definition the loss of Hope? Don't we all know what it feels like to crawl numbly out of bed with bleary eyes into a grey existence, plodding dutifully forward into a foreseable future that contains not even one small shred of anticipation that some change, some good, awaits in the Road that lies ahead of us? Trapped in a life we haven't chosen? Like Jimmy Stewart in "It's a Wonderful Life": stuck running his father's small-time business and loan in out-of-the-way Bedford Falls, year by year watching all hope fade for the great and wonderful dreams of what his life was going to be like? Or like Tom Hanks in "Joe vs. the Volcano": the quintessential film depiction of living in a dead-end career and a life marked by complete and utter hopelessness!

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"There is no worse death than the loss of hope".

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When we lose hope, we truly become the living dead. Our bodies are still going through the motions...but our hearts have stopped beating. The soul within the man has ceased to breath the vital atmosphere upon which it must feed if it is to survive the disappointments and heartbreaks of these Shadowlands. Hope is the oxygen of the soul. Hope is the reminder that the best is yet to come. The Bible refers to Hope as one of the Last Three Things, after all else has been burned away: "And now these three remain: Faith, Hope, and Love..."

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By God's figuring, Hope is pretty central to human existence. Notice He didn't say, "And now these three remain: morality, a good education, and the Protestant work-ethic." Or worse still, "And now these three remain: a good job, a big house, and a wisely invested retirement plan."

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Faith. Hope. Love. The things that make life...well, truly Life.

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Funny how something supposedly so essential, so vital, to our heart's journey, can, for all practical purposes, be something most of us are living without. We've all heard plenty about the vital importance of keeping our "love tank" on "full". So how about our Hope "chest"? Have you even thought about Hope lately? Or remotely begun to admit all the different ways in which you have lost Hope and fallen into resignation and despair? Did you wake up one morning to discover you had chosen the wrong career? Or the wrong spouse? Or the wrong life? Did you realize with a sense of inescapable doom and iron-clad finality that your commitments, your mortgage, or even your own addictions had you pinned down in a place from which there could be no freedom? Is there a person in your life inextricably intertwined into your journey who is methodically destroying your joy, your love for life, your very heart...and you no longer believe that that person could ever change? Is that person you?

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This, my friends, is a life without hope. This will never change. Tomorrow and next week and next month and next year are just going to be a repeat of all the disappointment, pain, confusion, and heartache that I am experiencing today.

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"A thrill of Hope, the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn!"

("O Holy Night")
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A thrill of Hope...

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What would that do for your life right about now?

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The message of Christmas comes to us as, first and foremost, a message of Hope. Not of culmination. Just Hope. The King of Kings hasn't ascended his throne...but he's here. The long slow process of Man's redemption is underway at last. It isn't here yet. That is the story to be told at Easter. Now it is only Christmas. Now it is only the beginning, the bright dawn of a new and glorious morning. It isn't here yet...

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...But it is coming.

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What if you could believe that again - about every dark and broken place in your story? The tempest and the storm and the clouds aren't the final word after all: the sun will shine again. What if you could believe that? I mean, could really grasp a hold of it, really feel it and know it with all your heart?

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It is coming.

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The thrill of Hope, indeed.

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John Eldredge quotes Dallas Williard in one of the most essential statements you will ever draw deep into your heart and own for yourself in all its power: Things can be different; and you have a role in making them so."

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"Remember Your word to Your servant;

You have given me Hope through it"

(Psalm 119:49)

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Things can be different.

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It is coming.

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Believe it, and drink deep the fresh air of Hope once again, my friends.

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For the Kingdom,

Derrick and David