Hope
 

            I recently read a very provocative phrase in a novel. The heroine says, “I need to learn to find value and appreciation in all things.”  It brought to mind a statement by James Baldwin, the noted novelist; “The challenge of living is to be present in everything you do, from baking bread to making love.”   I’ve changed the latter phrase to read, “From getting   up in the morning to going to bed at night.”

            The problem that we all have is creating “a glass ceiling” on our own values. For example, Benjamin Franklin. He advocated thirteen virtues, including Temperance, Order, Frugality. Sincerity, Moderation, Cleanliness, Industry and Humility.  These seven plus the other six are good. But in my mind, he left out a great virtue that should be a cornerstone in all of our lives-HOPE.  Hope, without a doubt, the driving force in all of life. No great adventure is ever achieved without hope as its motivation. There is never a day that any of us inhabit but what hope is an essential ingredient.

            The primacy of hope caught the interest of Emily Dickinson in a classic poem.

“Hope” is the thing with feathers-
That perches in the soul-
And sings the tune without the words-
And never stops-at all.

I’ve heard it in the chilliest land-
And on the strangest Sea-
Yet, never, in Extremity,
It asked a crumb-of Me.”

            Powerful, poetic words. Thoughtful, instructive and focusing on hope.

            There are over one hundred references to “hope” in the Bible. Two of the more meaningful ones are in the Psalms and the Epistles of Paul. “My hope is in God” and “Now abides Faith, Hope and Love. While “faith” is fundamentally a cognitive assertion and “love” is an emotional reaction, “Hope” is both mental and emotional. It is the bridge between faith and love.

            From the Apostle Paul to Saint Augustine to Martin Luther, to Shakespeare to Emerson to Mother Teresa to Presidents Jefferson and Clinton to countless others (both men and women) have used the word hope to convey their messages.

            In the English language hope is both a noun and a verb. In its basic meaning it affirms that good and the best will prevail. It was first identified in ancient Greek mythology. When Pandora received a box from Zeus, all evils were released into the world, all except HOPE.

            Perhaps the best known reference to hope comes from Alexander Pope’s reference in “Essay on Man.” The quote is often used, “Hope springs eternal in the human breast..”

            Fannie Hurst (1889-1968) was a famous novelist. Also a close friend of Eleanor Roosevelt. I’ve kept a paragraph of her writings for many years.

            She wrote: “Life, I salute you. Whether I have one hour or one day left I salute you. To have lived you up to now, to have attempted to interpret you to others, to have known and to know people, good and bad, great and puny, eminent and anonymous, is already to have lived life up to the jeweled hilt. The going is strong, but the going has wings and the heart sings. I salute you Life, for the riches and wonders of you bring me HOPE.”

Amen. Selah. So be it.

WORDS TO THINK ABOUT
G. W. Abersold Ph.D