Honest Hope
Introduction —— Hope is one of the most important and life giving words for humans living in a broken world.
Hope means that there is an expectation for the future. Hope means that there is a source of confidence that we place our hope in.
One anonymous writer said, “Hope is like oxygen to the soul.”
How true that is in a moment of suffering.
I listen closely to the narratives around hope in our culture and in Christianity.
Here are some of the hope narratives:
Hope in Hope —— Sometimes we hope in the concept of hope. However, hope is meant to have a source. As a follower of Jesus, He is the source of hope in the midst of suffering, both for our present and our future.
Ra-Ra Hope —— Sometimes we hope in a pep-talk or rally to see everything as good. Yet, not everything in life is good. A pep-talk is not necessarily bad, sometimes it is needed, but it is usually short lived. We need something more out of hope.
Toxic Positivity Hope —— Sometimes we see hope as everything having a positive spin. Although this sounds good, it fails the basic nature of hope—hope is birthed in suffering, struggle, or pain.
Hyper-Masculinity Hope —— Sometimes hope is proclaimed in “get back up” or “just be tough” terminology. This is not hope. We are allowed to feel. We are allowed to weep. We are allowed to struggle when life is hard.
I don’t adhere to any of these narratives of hope.
I believe in what I termed some years back, HONEST HOPE.
Honest Hope means —— that suffering and hope are not mutually exclusive realities.
They converge in moments of pain and suffering.
In fact, honest hope also means that:
we do have something to look forward to with reason for confidence
hope is often birthed in struggle, pain, suffering, and brokenness
hope does not exclude grieving and feeling the emotions of suffering
grief and hope can co-exist in the same moment
You have permission to feel your pain & have a deep abiding sense of hope. You can grieve with hope.
You are loved and valued. Please reach out to someone if you are in need of hope. There are people who will be there for you when the weight is too much to carry alone.
Believing Better Days for you — Wesley, Founder