Two Daughters

 “Hope has two beautiful daughters; 
their names are Anger and Courage. 
Anger at the way things are, 
and Courage to see 
that they do not remain as they are.”
~ Augustine of Hippo

Comfort of Sorts

"That failed hope

doesn't prove the failure of hope

is a comfort of sorts."

~ Wendell Berry, The Handing Down

Like Dandelions

"let me hope like dandelions—

obtrusive and resilient, resistant to a fault."

~ Grace Kelley

read the rest of the excellent poem at her blog

Citizen of Another Culture

"Hope that is sustained with neither certainty nor comfort is rare indeed, because it must be based on something beyond the reach of our senses, and we are sense-defined creatures, every one of us. To have hope of this nature is to have crossed over some kind of line somewhere in our life and become a citizen of another culture altogether."

~ Lancia Smith

Burden of Hope

“We’re called to bear the burden of hope through the wreckage of a broken world.” 

 ~ Aedan Peterson

I'd Really Hoped

Have you heard the turn of phrase, “I’d really hoped that…”? This week was the first time I ever thought about it, because I found myself thinking it in a way that was much more intentional, serious, and literal than it usually flows off my tongue.

Usually, it means we’re disappointed, mildly. This week, it meant that I have hoped - really, emotionally, actively, persistently hoped. I have prayed, and desired, and doubted, and reinforced my hope by praying again. I have had so much real hope that it could happen that I have checked just about anywhere I could think to check, for news that it had occurred.

And so this week, when I think to myself that “I’d really hoped,” it is because I am so disappointed that it takes my breath away thinking about continuing to hope for these things. I am so disappointed that I almost wish I hadn’t hoped. Can you hope too obsessively?

Hope to Receive

One of my good friends tries not to set unreasonable expectations for how an event will go. She’s been burned in the past, and struggled to have a good attitude. We’ve all been there. I mean, even when playing Settlers of Catan and just setting up for the first couple of turns, so often I find that I had expected things to go differently, and now what am I going to do?

Recently, my friend was talking about her plans for the summer, and she hopes that it will accomplish this and that for her family. Internally, I scoffed. It sounded like one of those expectations that is very likely to be unmet. But then I caught myself. Love hopes for good. And these things are deep, significant goods that these people I love do need. And so, it is not bad to hope for them.

But is there a difference, I wondered, between expectations and hope? One of my thoughts was that hope holds hands open. When we hope, we are waiting for a gift, and we recognize that, in many cases, we may not receive it. And when we don’t, we don’t have anything to complain about. Whereas expectations imply a little more about rights, and a little more about control. And again, if we do receive the thing, with hope, it isn’t something where we sniff and say, “about time!” No, we get a chance to rejoice, to feel loved by the Giver and Doer of good things.

So we’re hoping, this summer, and daring even to build plans in alliance with our hopes.