Hope

As often occurs, today stirs a reflection from The Shawshank Redemption, Andy speaking to Red:

“Remember, Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.”

And that always leads me to this from Vaclav Haval, lest hope be turned into some magic potion:

“Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well but the certainty that something makes sense regardless of how it turns out.”

Well, I can’t say that how it turns out always makes sense to me, but then that is, I guess, where hope does its thing.

It Is Well

A song cannot, of course, cure a virus any more than it can reverse a downward spiraling stock market, yet this song seems to have the knack of showing up in my head when most needed – of course, is there ever a time it is not needed:

“When peace, like a river, attendeth my way

When sorrows like sea billows roll

Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say

It is well, it is well with my soul.”

Courtyard

Courtyard

As I sit quietly at the desk in my hotel room and look out the window, watching light replace darkness in the courtyard, as I contemplate the choice of French’s yellow mustard window trim against the white and gray outside walls, God suddenly makes sense.

I can’t explain that any more than I can explain what love is; any more that I can explain right and wrong; any more than I can explain why, at some point, buying pants with the previously scorned expandable waistline makes sense, or how evangelical Christians continue to support Trump.

Still, at this blessed moment, God makes sense.

And surprisingly, the yellow trim works.

Love

“I believe that love is the greatest and hardest work.”  Brian Doyle

A simple statement that, when examined, turns infinitely complex, mainly due to the three words – “great,” “hard,” and “work.”  The first might make it on an understated Valentine’s card, but the last two never would.  Still, love is, at any given time, each or some combination of all three.

Revival & Grace

Reading again the Prodigal Son story in Luke 15, I am reminded of the grace of the father, and in particular as reflected in v. 32, the last words of the story: “But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.”

The grace that strikes me here is what I see as the celebration of revival – “But we HAD to celebrate….”  It is so easy to hold on to screw ups, mine or others, even after the realization of the screw up and the metanoia, the changing of the heart and mind as a result of that realization.   It is so easy to berate myself or others for mistakes, even after the mistake is acknowledged and remedial action is taken.  But the father here does not go there, despite the urging of the older son.  The father recognizes the revival and the need to celebrate it: “But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.”

Peace

“If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.”  Romans 12:18

“As far as possible without surrender, be on good terms with all persons.”  Max Ehrmann – Desiderata

Written a few centuries apart, but the same sentiment.  The “as far as it depends on you” and “without surrender” are key phrases.  “Peace,” at times, seems aspirational, and détente is the best one can achieve.

The Mistakes of Others

“Learn from the mistakes of others – you can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.”  Martin Vannbee

To complicate this, sadly, it seems one doesn’t come to this wisdom until his/her time to learn from the mistakes of others is also significantly diminished.  Luckily, the mistakes of others from which one can learn is, particularly in this information age, virtually unlimited.