Hope makes a difference

 

The word “hopeless” may be the saddest word in any language.  I’ve never been so low or felt so useless that I ever felt hopeless, yet I’ve known friends who struggled a lot to hold onto hope.  We become spiritually crippled without hope.

St. Paul writes in his Letter to the Romans, “For who hopes for what one sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait with endurance” (Romans 8:18-25).  To be hopeless, then, would mean that we can’t imagine what could be, we can’t imagine anything changing.

Then, in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus comes up with some ways to describe what really is indescribable…the Kingdom of God.  Like Paul, Jesus invites us to hope for what we can’t see.  But it’s there, it’s at work even if we can’t perceive it.  It’s like the tiny mustard seed that, over time, grows to welcome the birds of the sky, or the hidden yeast that silently leavens the dough (Luke 13:18-21).

Hope is much more than wishful thinking, like hoping my team will win the World Series, or that I’ll win the lottery for millions of dollars.  Hope is living our lives as a sower of mustard seeds or as a baker adding yeast to the dough.  The little things we do for others, the kindnesses we share with those we encounter each day, the genuine expression of gratitude to the waiter…all of it is living in hope.  Does our kindness make any difference?  I sure hope it does, even if I may never see it.  Let us live in hope, and live hope each day.