Disappointment and Hope

Disappointment comes into everyone’s life, even when there was great hope. In the face of the inevitable what happens to hope? Well, you can continue to hope or simply give up and say it just isn’t worth holding onto hope … what’s the use … you are just setting yourself for another disappointment … and so you surrender to a hopeless mind-set becoming defeated even before you try.

Just what is hope? Hope is Dr. Claude Thompson, dying of cancer, teaching the course, “Theology of Hope” to standing room only (actually he died before the end of the term). Hope is the birth of every child. Hope is believing in the unborn child that she was going to be something real special even after the doctors said that the child will be severely retarded (she turned out to be brilliant with an I.Q. off the charts). Hope is waking up every morning with great anticipation that today is going to be different. Hope is believing that the doctor’s do not, will not have the last word on your health situation. Hope is believing that resurrection is possible when the world is dark and death has been declared.

Where do you find hope? When all odds seem to be staked against you and your life’s situation there is something buried deep within your soul … the seed of hope because "hope springs eternal". Never give up hope as long as God has the last word.

There is an old sermon story on discouragement: A man approached a little league baseball game one afternoon. He asked a boy in the dugout what the score was. The boy responded, "Eighteen to nothing--we're behind." "Boy," said the spectator, "I'll bet you're discouraged." "Why should I be discouraged?" replied the little boy. "We haven't even gotten up to bat yet!"

Or, my favorite, is the story of a girl who was praying for a horse – day-after-day – and then one day discovered a rather large pile of manure in the yard. She began to frantically dig into the pile of manure with her bare hands stating, with great enthusiasm, “With this much manure there has got to be a horse in here some place!”

The “manure” of life can take the "wind out of our sails", as they say, we simply get tired of the smell, the dirt, the feeling “what’s the use,” and the attitude of a tired spirit. Disappointment can set in before we even give hope a real chance. When we give up on hope we are really giving up on God. We are saying that in my situation nothing is possible – regardless that the Bible states that with God everything is possible. But, do we really believe that – that with God everything … EVERYTHING … is possible? If we believe it then how should it change our life? our attitude? our behavior? our way of relating to the others in our life?

It is either allowing hope to work its grace filled miracle in our hearts or allowing disappointment to win. It really is up to us … isn’t it?

Quote for today: There are no hopeless situations; there are only people who have grown hopeless about them. Clare Boothe Luce.