Tags
Anna Deavere Smith, faith, hope, journey, lean in, Marilyn Chandler, struggle, tribulations, trusting God
I sat down in a cafe dreading writing, having avoided it long enough to get out of the habit…long enough to lose momentum, motivation. So I did what anyone else in this technologically crazed society does…I checked twitter, facebook, other blogs, etc. Not looking for motivation, but I found it nonetheless. I came across The Future According to Anna Deavere Smith, a link a dear friend had just posted where Anna Deavere Smith answers a question about optimism vs. pessimism given the current state of the world.
Ms. Smith quotes Dr. Cornel West who defines hope in terms of action that goes beyond the current evidence, beyond the unknown concerning the outcome, action that imparts vision spurring heroic actions in spite of the odds…hoping against hope, so to speak.
As the lover of words that I am, I began to research this word, “hope.” Many like to use it and as Marilyn Chandler has so eloquently said, our misuse and overuse of words makes them insignificant, hackneyed, and impotent.
Merriam-Webster defines hope as, “to cherish with expectation of obtainment,” “to expect with confidence.” Yet the definition given by Ms. Smith quoting West more explicitly talks about action. A very different understanding than our current Western understanding of hoping…”wishing and hoping”.
The Bible speaks of hope often with several scriptures in my favorite book, Romans. Paul writes in Romans that hope is a product of tribulations, patience, and experience. It is what saves us. Here hope seems very similar to faith…both are spoken about in the Bible as things that are nullified when seen, “hope that is seen is not hope” (Romans 8:24), both lead to subsequent action on our part in response to our faith and our hope.
Hence it is again this space where God is asking us to trust (another definition given by Merriam-Webster of hope) in Him. Hope in Him. Act based on Him, not the circumstances…this isn’t being optimistic or pessimistic, but certain not in the circumstances but in Him. This hope causes us to endure tribulations…to embrace the struggle because from the struggle, from the tribulations come patience and experience and hope…..and hope maketh not ashamed.
Those last four words struck a chord because I have been avoiding writing…avoiding hoping, hoping not to be ashamed. Ashamed as a researcher, writer, scholar, teacher-educator. If my students were to do this I would make them look me straight in the eyes and tell them how capable they are, how if they work hard they will not be ashamed. I can often instruct better than I can enact…this lesson’s for me.
The Bible instructs us to hope in Him, in His Word, in His mercy…all of which tell us that we are saved by grace through faith, with Him all things are possible, and He has cleansed us of all unrighteousness….easily said, easily written, hard to act from. To act from, by this I mean, we should act from a stance of hope, from a stance of assurance and certainty in Him, in His Word, in His mercy. Not that we don’t always do this, but there are those things…where we don’t want to look the fool and we lose hope.
Don’t lose hope in what God can do. Remember what He has done, has promised and hope in what He will do. Lean into it. Embrace the struggle.
I now realize what the old folks meant when they said they wouldn’t take nothing for their journey…the journey, tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope (Romans 5:4, KJV).
