Redefining Hope

Waiting Well

There is no quota on suffering. No matter the number of hard days you have behind you, no one is guaranteed an exemption from even harder days ahead. Suffering of any sort infuses not only the present with pain, but it also reaches forward and casts the future as a dangerous and dreadful place. We learn that if a bad thing has happened, then it can happen again. Maybe worse.

Fortunately, that syllogism can be inverted: If a good thing has happened, then it can happen again. Maybe better. After enduring countless major and minor stints of suffering since Katherine’s stroke, we have conditioned ourselves to logically identify the opportunity for hope rather than hopelessness. Our lives have been full of good things, which means our future is full of good things if we are willing to define and identify them rightly. We practice preaching the truest story to our own souls: God is working all things together for the good of those who love Him. He is working every good and bad, global and personal, complex and simple plot line together for us and for you and for the human race. The story behind us is complex—good and hard. The promised story ahead of us ends with redemption. We have the choice of hope—to live in the present reality of a future promise of resurrection.