The Power and Promise of Hope
“We shall draw from the heart of suffering itself the means of inspiration and survival.” (Sir Winston Churchill)A young woman I know lost her sister to suicide. There was no indication life had taken such a complete turnaround, a turnaround that was unbearable.
The family was crushed in their grief. Sorrow was their only companion.
“You don’t get to choose how you’re going to die, only how you are going to live.”(Joan Baez, song writer and singer)
For the first 48 years I believed I was living. For the next 20 years, I realized I had been dead for the first 48. Now at 68 and just retired, I choose to live with purpose.
This tree design is carved on the tombstone of some unknown individual. They dream no more. Was their hope ended too?
Perhaps we can’t agree on the origin or value of hope, but even the most jaded members of humankind dream. We dream because we wish to possess, capture or covet some outcome – success, happiness, riches, admiration, love, power, just to suggest a few. Dreams release us for a time from the reality in which we find ourselves.
He lived an imperfect life. That led him to find a noble purpose, a purpose for which he would give his life. This kind of personal transformation can be the basis for hope even in the life of an imperfect, rebellious individual. Where we begin our life’s journey and where it ends offers each of us time in which to grow and in which to find a purpose, a noble purpose.
That belief began to work in me when I was just a child. I heard a scripture written by a follower of Jesus. That follower was going blind. He would be jailed for his faith, he would suffer greatly, and he would be left to die alone. That man died not knowing how important his words and the witness of his life would become.