Hope is an amazing thing. With it, we can do just about anything. We can dream big dreams, make lots of plans, sleep deep sleep and smile at the world. Without it, you can not imagine making it to the next breath, you can not rest and great sadness covers your every thought. Hope is what we all hold onto when we wake up each morning and face the day. Recently I was challenged to fill in the blank to the following statement; I hope that _______. I had to think long and hard about this because I suddenly had the stark realization that I had lost my hope. The words seem to rattle around my mind trying to find something to hang at the end of that statement. I hope that ………. As others filled in their blanks I could barely hear what they were saying as my thoughts raced to the things I hoped for. It was a very dark place as I searched for something that I could hope for. I thought about all of the things that I hoped for in my life and how many of them had died or disappeared into nothingness. My thoughts raced through my memory bank of scripture verses and biblical accounts. My mind landed on the story of the prodigal son who selfishly demanded his share of the inheritance only to squander it on unwise living. It was at the point of craving the slop given to the pigs that he had hope. Hope that if he could just go back and live as a servant in his father’s house he would make it. His hope wasn’t to be restored to honor; it was merely a hope that he could live the rest of his life in servitude to his family. Of course if you know the story, the father restored more than the son could imagine or hope. Instead of being restored as a slave, he was restored to a place of honor as a son. Even the small bit oh hope that the son had was enough to carry him to places he could not have imagined or dreamed. But he had hope. It was not much, but it was hope. The second story that came to my remembrance was the story of Job. A man who at the beginning oh his story had a great hope. He had been blessed with great wealth, a great family and great promise for the future. However, Job finds himself in a place where everything he had, wealth, belongings, servants and family was whipped out in a blink of the eye. The amazing thing was that Job never lost hope. His friends accused him of great sin, his body was racked with pain, and even his wife lost all hope and told Job to “curse God and die”. The life that was so full, the hope that was so real, everything he possessed had vanished for almost everyone. Everyone but Job that is. Job didn’t know all hope was lost. Instead Job held steadfast in the midst of all of his tragedy and said that though He slay me, yet will I trust him. Job somehow was able to find hope in the midst of his tragedy. As I was trying to process these two stories I thought to myself that I needed to find this kind of hope. Even if it was a small bit of hope like the lost son had I needed to find it. So once again I fired up all brain power to finish the statement “I hope that _______. However I still could not find anything to fill in the blank. I couldn’t find even the smallest thing that I could hope for. So I spent the next several hours thinking what could I hope for. Finally, with the help of a friend, I came to the place that I could say, I hope that I can come to a place in my life that I have hope. While I know this is not a great breakthrough or a spiritual mountaintop, it is a place to start. Like the lost son I hope to find that place and have hope to move, to breath, to dream and to live. So what do you fill in the blank today? What do you have hope for? Fill in the blank and let me know what you are hoping for. I hope that ________.
Think about it,
Peace,
Ralph
