To Hope Means...

Our guest writer is Afra fcJ, who lives in Manila. Read her last post "To Be Humble and Not Know It!" here.

TO HOPE MEANS...

When the destruction is so overwhelming –

          from smoky mountains of garbage and plastics,

          to floods and uncontrollable forest fires,

          and global warming –

When divisions intensify (in families, work places, schools, the Church, and all around us),

          radicalism is getting stronger and more powerful

          and terrorism, violence

          and harsh and doubting words even from those closest to me fill the air –

 

To hope means

          to choose not to be paralyzed by the size of the problem

          not to close my eyes to the reality – both local and global –

          but to learn what is happening around me

          and take what small steps I can, today.

 

It takes courage

and it is a choice

          to be positive today

          to swallow the doubting words

          to show appreciation instead

          to offer solutions and actively offer my contribution

                    rather than be skeptical and critical and stay on the peripheries

          to learn not to judge

          and learn always to give others another chance, today

 

To hope means         

not to say: ‘never again’, ‘I will never’, or ‘I quit’

          when what matters is to be gentle, humble, obedient

          to stay open

          for God to fill me and mould me and use me

not to say: ‘never again’, ‘I will never’, or ‘I quit’

          when it is about forgiving; about giving someone another chance

          70 times 7 times –

          again, and again, and again –

          have I done it today?

 

When almost everything is instant –

          from noodles to oatmeal, learning a new language to playing a musical instrument

          even communication (from snail mail to email to WhatsApp, which goes instantly and you 

          know whether the other has read your message or not) –

When I have to get what I want (thinking I need it) –

          in or out of season

          now

          and all of it

                    because I don’t want to – and can’t – choose just one:

                    food, opportunities, relationships –

When all around us screams for

          “quicker”, “easier” and

          “my own comfort” –

 

To hope means

          to dare to wait

                    because the good things in life cannot be rushed to ripeness

          to dare to stay uncomfortable

                    in perseverance; in the struggle

          to make all efforts to be patient

          and to stay with what is

 

I call this faithfulness.

 

To hope means

          that the focus is not on myself, but on others

When there is patience towards others

          and forgiveness and acceptance of others

          then to hope is to love

                    and to love is to hope.

 

I need only to look back

          to my experience of being loved by God

                    (whether it happened sometime today, or yesterday,  or a long time ago…)

          to relive that experience again

          and each time it is harder to hope

          I need to come to God

                    knowing God never loses hope in me, and in the world.

 

To hope means to live in faith

 

Then and only then

          I can live with gratitude and hope

          I can live with love and joy

          I can live with faith and fidelity.

 

God, I need only to be aware of your love and your grace in my life

          And that is reason enough to hope…