A transcendent hope when all hope seems dashed

There are many times in grief when you feel like it’s you that’s died.  Life as it’s come to be is impossible to live.  A new normal has suddenly replaced what we yearn to return to.  In a state of life that can only connect with the suffering, everyone else appears to live completely trouble free.

A hope that died and can no longer be revived is a loss that simply must be grieved.  But there’s more, a lot more, if anything of true life is to be redeemed.

Perhaps what stands to be noticed on the horizon is an opportunity to live a different kind of life—at least while in the in-between—to that which most people live; call it transcendence.  Let’s face it, we would never have chosen to embrace a life we can now manufacture but for the hope that evaporated before our eyes in the loss that’s become reality.

When there’s no connection left with those in ‘the normal life’ then there’s a connection to be created with those who live the ‘new normal life’ you’re presently in.  There’s no use in resenting the place you’re in; best make the most of it.

The life of the psalmist in Psalm 88 is very dark.  They’ve been completely cast off.  There is absolutely no light in such a life.  Yet, that kind of life is very familiar to any of us who have experienced cataclysmic loss.

There is a hope that can only spring from loss—that is, the hope that doesn’t come into view until the old life is gone.  It leaves us with an opportunity.  With old possibilities gone, and refusing to give up on the presence of hope in the new milieu, we venture forth in the darkness, desperate to find the presence of light.

Faith is at its strongest when we’re at our weakest when we refuse to give up on hope.

Sure, there are times in loss where we cannot get out of the Psalm 88 countenance, where we can’t get out of bed, can’t stop crying, or can’t begin the day, or lose hope in the evening when all of life is empty.  But out of such absence of hope comes the motivation to make for new ground.  Not every day, mind you.  There are times when we have no will in us to live, let alone explore for the new hope we believe is out there for us.

There is a transcendent hope that lies in wait for the person whose hope has been vanquished.

Hope out of loss is a redemptive thing.  For those who do not ultimately give up, there is always fresh hope to be found.