SEASONS of life come and go, and in
God’s goodness there’s a variety of them. But what about when what we hope for
continues to elude us?
Proverbs 13:12 (NRSV) says,
“Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.”
but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.”
Some hopes remain elusive for
years. Some never materialise. However hard this concept is to accept, we’re
counselled to hold in tension the truth that God has good plans for us. Part of
those plans, I’m sure, is how He makes us sturdier of spirit for having been
disappointed; for having had the courage to take reality on; having the courage
to accept hopes that may/will never eventuate.
There are hopes we all have that
continue to disappoint us, some ultimately so. And so what do we do with these
unreconciled dreams?
Some wither and fade over time, and
we don’t need to do anything apart from be patient. Other hopes deferred continue
to harass us, especially when, in every conceivable reality, those hopes are
realistic, even doable. Unfortunately, there are also some hopes we harbour
that are unrealistic, and it’s worse still when we don’t quite have the courage
to face those realities, especially when we suspect our cowardice.
A hope deferred is an ambiguous
loss, which is a loss that confounds us because we don’t have the assurance of
loss. Sometimes it’s best to simply know a hope is lost and not be left
hanging.
We need patience and courage when
hopes continue to disappoint.
Here’s a model prayer to help us
based off the Serenity Prayer:
Lord, give me patience to wait for
the hopes that haven’t arrived yet, courage to let go of unrealistic hopes, and
the wisdom to know the difference. Amen.
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