Hope

"The Zookeeper's Wife" (a book set in Warsaw during World War II) and "Jakob the Liar" (a movie which takes place during the same time, also in Poland) have set me thinking about Hope.

What do we hope in? Jakob fabricated lies about the advancement of the Russians and the allies to provide his comrades in the Jewish ghetto with the life-giving commodity of hope, without which they were literally dying. His words gave his friends the courage to pursue matrimony, put aside thoughts of suicide, and to walk with a spring in their step.

I take great joy in the good things of this life on earth (marriage and children and the continuation of life; interaction with creation; music and art and creativity), and even on a "bad" day, I can find much to delight in and be grateful for.

But what if my life bore the bleakness of a Jew in a Polish ghetto in the 1943? How secure is my hope? Could it survive if "the earth gave way and the mountains fell into the heart of the sea?"

Faith is being SURE of what I hope for. Romans 8 says we hope for "our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies." Hebrews 11 says we hope for "a better country--a heavenly one." Without giving up hope for a little redemption in this life, in this world (I think this is what attracts people to true, eternal redemption--beauty and compassion, discovery and healing HERE), I want to remember that this world is passing away, and our final destination is not what can be seen.