Stories of Hope
On a hot summer day this past July, our family explored Grafton Street in Dublin. We wove in and out of shops, ate lunch at Bruxelles Pub, and admired the street vendors' beautiful flowers. While my family excitedly took in a street performer creating spray paint art, I began to look for a quiet corner where I might disappear. The sheer number of people on the street was overwhelming, and I felt myself shutting down. The only thing to do when this happens, is to find an out of the way place, where I can take a deep breath, and remind myself I only need to endure the over stimulating environment for a bit longer, which grounds me enough to re-enter the crowd.
I think it's safe to assume that we have all experienced being overwhelmed or over stimulated. It could be a crowd, or trying something new. It might be the deluge of despair-filled posts on social media. It could be the stack of bills waiting at home, or the impossible to do list. It could be found in the tension of conflict. Or maybe it is the painful emptiness we experience when a relationship ends or we are struck by grief. For many of us it is the state of our government (any branch, these days), racism and poverty in America, and the gross abuse and mistreatment of women and children. Even as we work hard to address injustice, at times the work may feel fruitless, even hopeless.
Just as I find a quiet corner when I feel overwhelmed by a crowd, I seek out stories of hope when I begin to see our society struggle to muddle through our despair and hopelessness. I remember the impossible despair of the Israelites during their Egyptian enslavement (Exodus), and their periods of weariness and faithlessness during their forty year journey in the wilderness (Pentateuch). Throughout the holy scriptures, God is repeatedly asking us to simply, have faith. No matter how bad things may seem. Here are just a few (of the many), that I take hope from:
On that particular summer day in Dublin when I found myself seeking a quiet corner, I stumbled into a shop full of comfort and hope: Dubray Books. The smell of the books in a library or bookstore can fill us with energy and hope, as long as they have not gotten too musty! It is not really the pages themselves, but the stories of hope and inspiration within the pages. As I browsed through their collection, I found a book that captured my attention: The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris.
The Tattooist of Auschwitz is a fictional retelling of the true story of Lale Sokolov, a Jewish man who becomes the primary tattooist at Auschwitz. Even as he grapples with the utter desolation of the camps, and his role in taking away each prisoner's dignity, the reader cannot help but admire Lale's endless determination to use his position to help those most in danger. He finds a way to steal goods from the Nazi's (goods that the Nazi's had first stolen from those they had imprisoned or killed). Then he exchanges them for food or medicine in order to help everyone he possibly could. In the midst of this work, he falls in love with a fellow prisoner, giving him a fountain of hope to continue his mission and survive the Holocaust.
Just as I find a quiet corner when I feel overwhelmed by a crowd, I seek out stories of hope when I begin to see our society struggle to muddle through our despair and hopelessness. I remember the impossible despair of the Israelites during their Egyptian enslavement (Exodus), and their periods of weariness and faithlessness during their forty year journey in the wilderness (Pentateuch). Throughout the holy scriptures, God is repeatedly asking us to simply, have faith. No matter how bad things may seem. Here are just a few (of the many), that I take hope from:
- In Jeremiah 29:11, the prophet reminds the Israelites living in exile to have hope: "For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope."
- Jesus was constantly reminding his followers of the hope that is to come. Yet they are so caught up in their Good Friday grief, that they do not even recognize their resurrected teacher as he walked alongside them on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24).
- The apostle Paul wrote to the people at Corinth, who were overwrought with divisiveness. In the letter he describes what a community of faith should look like if it's healthy, and what it means to truly love one another. We may use the letter at a lot of weddings, but it is really about how we are all supposed to treat one another: "Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends..."(1 Corinthians 13:4-8a).
On that particular summer day in Dublin when I found myself seeking a quiet corner, I stumbled into a shop full of comfort and hope: Dubray Books. The smell of the books in a library or bookstore can fill us with energy and hope, as long as they have not gotten too musty! It is not really the pages themselves, but the stories of hope and inspiration within the pages. As I browsed through their collection, I found a book that captured my attention: The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris.
The Tattooist of Auschwitz is a fictional retelling of the true story of Lale Sokolov, a Jewish man who becomes the primary tattooist at Auschwitz. Even as he grapples with the utter desolation of the camps, and his role in taking away each prisoner's dignity, the reader cannot help but admire Lale's endless determination to use his position to help those most in danger. He finds a way to steal goods from the Nazi's (goods that the Nazi's had first stolen from those they had imprisoned or killed). Then he exchanges them for food or medicine in order to help everyone he possibly could. In the midst of this work, he falls in love with a fellow prisoner, giving him a fountain of hope to continue his mission and survive the Holocaust.
The ability to keep hope alive in the bleakest of circumstance is what inspires us to keep going. During the majority of our stay in Ireland, our family listened to another story of hope that captured our hearts: The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James Brown. The non-fiction account follows the eight crew members from the University of Washington on their path to the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Yet what makes the story so powerful, is the main character, Joe Rantz, who overcomes great personal strife to earn a seat on the boat. His story makes it clear that each boy in the boat must overcome their own brokenness to be part of something greater than themselves. The determination and hopefulness is palpable from chapter to chapter. You don't have to be interested in crew or the olympics to discover that this story of hope is one which will remain with you for a long time.
Anne Lamott wrote in her book, Bird by Bird that when a writer is overwhelmed by the task before them to take the piece bird by bird. She retells a story of her brother from childhood. He was working on a project on birds that was due the next day (he had three months but had yet to start anything). There was so much to do he was immobilized. She overheard her father tell her brother that it was okay, he just needed to take the project bird by bird. That advice stayed with Lamott, and she would often think of the writing project before her like a photo that she needed to take inch by inch. Lamott may have been talking about how to write, but it also is a path to hopefulness.
As much as it helps me to have a plan, and to know all the answers, we do not actually need to know how we will get from point A to point B. We do not need to know how all the bills will get paid or how this pain in our hearts will ever subside. We do not need to know what our nation will be like in ten years with a president like Trump, with a justice like Kavanaugh, and with a nation where Dreamers are forced to leave for driving thru a red light. If we take every problem in, we will be overwhelmed to the point of becoming immobilized.
Instead, we can remember to take a breath. We can remember that we will overcome the impossible if we take the situation inch by inch. We can do everything possible, within that one square inch. We can remember the stories of hope that surround us on our bookshelves, and in the holy scriptures. We can remember that God makes the impossible, possible, over and over again. We can remember that God has a future of hope for us. We can remember that it will all be possible if we love those around us. The ones we agree with, and the ones that we think are dead wrong. Because as Paul wrote to the Corinthians, love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.
I wonder, what are the stories of hope that keep you moving forward?
What are the stories that keep you looking up, and taking things inch by inch, bird by bird?
As much as it helps me to have a plan, and to know all the answers, we do not actually need to know how we will get from point A to point B. We do not need to know how all the bills will get paid or how this pain in our hearts will ever subside. We do not need to know what our nation will be like in ten years with a president like Trump, with a justice like Kavanaugh, and with a nation where Dreamers are forced to leave for driving thru a red light. If we take every problem in, we will be overwhelmed to the point of becoming immobilized.
Instead, we can remember to take a breath. We can remember that we will overcome the impossible if we take the situation inch by inch. We can do everything possible, within that one square inch. We can remember the stories of hope that surround us on our bookshelves, and in the holy scriptures. We can remember that God makes the impossible, possible, over and over again. We can remember that God has a future of hope for us. We can remember that it will all be possible if we love those around us. The ones we agree with, and the ones that we think are dead wrong. Because as Paul wrote to the Corinthians, love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.
I wonder, what are the stories of hope that keep you moving forward?
What are the stories that keep you looking up, and taking things inch by inch, bird by bird?
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