Dear pilgrims of hope,
what does it mean to hope?
A common expression to describe Hope is to take the letters and make them into “Holding on pain ends”. But is this true? Does it mean that if we hope, that there definitely will be an end to our pain?
Last year we recommended Viktor Frankl’s book “Man’s search for meaning” on our page. One of the things that stuck with me from the book was how Viktor Frankl could tell in the concentration camps when someone was going to die. He describes how people would tell themselves that by a certain date they would be back home and when that date arrived and they were not released, how they gave up. He describes how they would smoke the last cigarette they had kept or eaten the last piece of bread and how he could tell that within 48 hours they would die. Because they had given up all hope.
But the hope they had was conditional. Because they had put a timeframe to it. In everything we do, we should always add “Godwilling” and every prayer should be accompanied by “Thy will be done, not mine.” The second world war eventually did end.
Living is not about being pain-free. Suffering is part of our pilgrimage on earth. As Christians we can offer our suffering up for someone else in prayer. We can transform our pain by attaching a purpose to it.
Do not give up, dear pilgrim of hope, life is a journey and things never stay the same. The good things and the bad things. Our hope is in Christ. Our hope is in the fact that because He rose from the dead, we may too. And there will be no pain in Heaven. Only joy. Let us focus our eyes on Christ and not waver.
