What does it mean to hope against hope? I have found this question scattered throughout my many thoughts as of late. It holds especial significance during this advent season as the world orients itself for the coming of the savior, watching in hopeful anticipation for the humble arrival of He who sets our hearts at rest. Though the days are dark and cold, it is the hope of the season that lights our spirits.
It is sometimes difficult for those who have experienced the hope of Christmas time and time again to renew it every year. They know what is coming and the lustre of the holiday fades into the bustle of the buying and to do-list mentality. It is through the eyes of the child that we can often see the living light of hope. At Christmas time, children fill their hearts with such hope and life, allowing them to dream of the impossible- a plump old man who flies around the world in a sleigh. Call it what you will, but this power of imaginative hope is a wonder when seen against the stark realism that often freezes our wishfulness.
So Christmas is a time for hope, but what about the rest of the seasons?
The glimpse of Christmas joy gives us a taste of the beauty of hope, but we truly find hope when we allow it to permeate every moment. To hope against hope is to see the unseen with a surety that surpasses all doubts, all the time.
You see true hope may falter or fade, but it never dies.
As I sit here in the airport at the end of my semester full of travels, my own heart is full of anticipation and hope to see the ones I love. Hope is for the travelers who long to see dear faces. Hope is for wanderers who seek what they do not know they need. Hope is for the patient, who walk steadily towards their goal. It is a constant stream of energy that powers us on from day to day, season to season. It is meant for everyone and once received, is a contagious force that plows through any sorrow. While I have been sitting here, waiting to board my home-bound plane, I have noticed so many little children wandering around the airport. They stand out because they act as if they are not really in an airport. They are playing imaginary games or running back and forth between poles or singing to themselves. They smile and laugh while everyone else sourly sits or sleeps. They see something we don’t. Their actions show us what hope looks like in our own lives. Of course we can’t run around and play make-pretend all day, but the concept is the same. We live with a joy that says to the sorrowful: “They see something I don’t. How can I see what they see?”
So Joy. Always joy. This is the fruit of hope. For if what we hope for is the unseeable beauty of paradise then how else will we be able to contain ourselves other than by a steady ray of joy. But if our hope is tied to this earth then it is material and finite. It does not bear the mark of eternity and so the joy is not fully there.
So where is your hope? How does it take affect in your life? Will you let the flame of hope consume your heart this Christmas? If my travels have taught me anything, it is that they are worthless without the hope that Christ brings. Wonderful sights and holy places, incredible cultures and adventures are nothing unless seen through the light of hope. And we do not need to travel the world to realize this because hope does not need greatness to begin, it only needs YOU.
