I recently finished reading Beautiful Boy by David Sheff. David tells what it was like for him as he watched his son struggle with an addiction to meth. As a journalist, his default was to investigate, to research. What he found was that meth is an insidious substance, one of the hardest addictions to recover from. He chronicled his struggle as his son went into treatment and relapsed multiple times.
This story got me thinking about hope.
It got me thinking about when hope becomes too much. When things have been so hard for so long, and hopes are dashed again and again. When what seemed like a light, a new start, a beginning of some lasting, significant change falls apart. When all that’s left is the shattered pieces of a dream.
I have heard it said, forgive me, I do not recall where, that without hope, a person cannot survive.
Without hope, a person cannot survive.
What then? What to do when things fall apart, when the one thing you hoped for lies in shards on the ground?
There comes a time to redefine hope.
When hope can no longer be my desire for a specific outcome, hope becomes:
- An energizing force which empowers me to carry on.
- The light which helps me find my way.
- Strength to maintain my grip on that proverbial rope.
- A haven. A place of respite.1
- That which gets me to lift my head, to look up.
- Trust that no matter what happens, I, and those I love, will still be held in God’s loving embrace.
Hope is no longer a wish to be fulfilled, and has become a power by which to live.
Beloved of God, as you journey through the hardest of seasons, may hope empower you. May it light your way, cause you to look up. May hope be a haven for you. May you come to trust, that no matter what happens, you, and those you love are still, always, held in God’s loving embrace.
Amen
Rachael
1 “Hope,” def. 2. Webster Dictionary (1913), version 2.101, SE Develop, 2019.