There is hope

 There is hope - Link to podcast

At the Salvos Drug and Alcohol recovery center in Brisbane there is a sign on the front office wall which says “There is Hope”.   Love always hopes and believes in a person’s potential - especially when they are struggling.  

The Salvos have a catch cry at the moment.  “Hope where it’s needed most”  Hope is a big deal.  Without it, somewhat obviously, things become quite hopeless.

For many years I worked at the Salvos Red Hill rehabilitation service and on the wall outside the front office, actually the first thing you see, written in big solid steel tubular writing is the phrase “There is hope”.  Countless people in addiction have arrived at this center at the end of their rope and seen this sign and I have often heard of the impact these three words has made in their lives at their most desperate hour.  

Hope is all about believing in what we cannot quite see yet.  It is believing for the future.  Believing for the best in someone despite their many troubles.  Believing in a person’s potential.  

• ‘If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them become what they are capable of becoming’. Goethe

 

Our Scripture today from 1 Corinthians 13:6 says love always hopes.  

We genuinely hope the best for the people we love.  Good parents sow this seed into the lives of their children.  Always believing in the full potential of each child.  Children who are discouraged by their parents and other key influencers like relatives, teachers and peers can lose hope and simply give up on ever achieving their dreams.  

Now false hope can be a dangerous thing.  The hope of winning the lotto, or becoming a concert pianist without doing any practice or Collingwood winning the 2021 premiership.   These hopes are fanciful and will usually only lead to disappointment and despair.  But hope in what is true and good and promised, can be motivating and helpful.

  

Every human being is a beloved child of God, precious and priceless and my Buddy Paul Maunder often says….Building on this, we can be hopeful with good reason that people can set goals, and work towards worthwhile things.  

One of my favorite movies is the Shawshank redemption.  Andy Dufrey chisels away at the wall of his cell for 20 years and eventually makes his escape.  He never gave up hope.  A line he shares in this movie with his friend Red was “get busy living or get busy dying”.  To hope is to choose life.  To choose love and to choose fulfillment.  

Many of us distract for hours on social media or games.  We sometimes watch TV or silly little clips on utube for hours and have given up hope in the more productive ways we have on offer to spend leisure time.  We blank out our best thinking and choose numbing ways to spend time, rather than finding the hope to try new things and develop ways to grow and make a difference.  

The lovely Sue has high hopes for me.  She believes in me and wants a more full and happy life for me.  Often this involves me growing in my capacity to be active around the house or to develop a little less embarrassing fashion sense and of course to reduce the number of stupid mistakes I make  …….  there is a quite direct benefit in this growth for her, but this is not as selfish as it sounds.  We all hope for each other to be the best we can be, as when other people flourish, especially the people closest to us, we really benefit.  I love being with happy and effective people who love life, don’t you?  So hoping for the best in the people we love is a good idea for everyone.   

I have high hopes for the lovely Sue too.  I hope the hours she spends watching MasterChef will one day result in a culinary experience that will rocket me into an ecstatic state of gastronomical bliss.  I know this would make her extremely happy and I am full of encouragement for her.  Come on Sue, you can do it!!

Bless ya,