Reflections on Hope.

"Hope prevents us from clinging from what we have and frees us to move away from the safe place and enter unknown and fearful territory. This might sound romantic, but when a man enters with his fellow man into his fear of death and is able to wait for him right there, "leaving the safe place" might turn to a very difficult act of leadership. It is an act of discipleship in which we follow the hard road of Christ, who entered death with nothing but bare hope."
Henri Nouwen, The Wounded Heart


I read this exert the other day and it struck a cord. Probably because Hope is something that seems to allude me at times. I have the great ability to get so discouraged with the way that the world has slid into desperation. I would even go as far to say that I have the great ability to be discouraged with the way life has seemed to pan out but I know that there is really no truth in this statement.

Partly because the way that life has turned out has nothing to do with me in a large way, and partly because life can only come from Christ, which makes the first statement ultimately true. When I say then that I am discouraged with the way life has turned out, I am actually saying, I am discouraged with the way that sin has encroached the way that I perceive life to be.

If I had a pure and realistic view of life I would be so encouraged that discouragement probably would not be able to sink it's teeth in me.

But if I were to see life in a pure and realistic way hope would not be as necessary. It would still be necessary because one needs to hope that the end will come and that Christ will play the last encore.

In the light of purity and realism hope does not seem as urgent as it does when I am at the bottom of the pit waiting for the lions to rip my skin off.

Hope is something that seems to be one of the redeeming qualities that ring through the story of Christ.

Just as we hope in Christ to defeat death, Christ hopes in us to share in the celebration of life.

Just as we hope in Christ to live again, Christ hopes in us to live out His resurrected life.

Just as we hope in Christ to forgive us of our sins, Christ hopes that we forgive ourselves and others.

Just as we hope in Christ to save the world, Christ hopes in us to partner with him in the fight to freedom.

We have this great capacity to take our position in the kingdom of God and lower it. Instead of taking our rightful seat we feel the need to be the servant outside the banquet hall eagerly waiting for it to be over so we can pick the scraps off the floor.

If we do not have any expectation in life. If our life is not held in hope that Christ is going to change our lives and the lives of the people around us through us than we have missed a large portion of the life story itself.

For expectation is the essence of hope. And hope is the essence of anticipation for something to happen.