Hope
by Gail Kittleson
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| Hope - from Pixabay |
“You alone are my hope...” Jeremiah uses the Hebrew word qawa, similar
to the word for trust. (Jeremiah 17:17 NLT)
Hope means to trust in, wait for, look for,
or desire something or someone; or to expect something beneficial in the
future.
In
Spanish, the verb esparar means both to hope and to wait.
We wait for spring because we trust that winter will fade. Warmer winds will
blow, as they do every year. We count on it.
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| Male Northern Cardinal - Pixabay |
We also
await answers to our prayers for wholeness and increased faith. If we see God
as faithful, caring, and powerful, hope comes a lot easier. On the other hand,
our woundedness can hinder trust.
My World
War II characters experience this truth. Sometimes it’s difficult for Addie to
believe things will ever change in her marriage. In the sequel, the merciless
Waffen SS atrocities in Southern France overwhelm Addie’s best friend Kate.
But for
these heroines, hope shines in the midst of struggle. They both must wait to
see the end for which they long. Thus, there’s plenty of room for hope to
affect their attitudes and individual growth.
Twenty-seven
times, the Greek Old Testament translates qawa as hupomeno,
"to wait, to be patient, to endure.” In the presence of suffering, this
term implies patience in bearing affliction while hopefully awaiting
deliverance. If I tried for hours, I couldn’t better express the attitude my
characters exhibit in their struggles.
I hope readers find
encouragement for their own difficulties through embracing Addie and Kate’s
stories. This is what happens with us as we follow Biblical characters facing
hard times.
For all of us, things
look bleak at times—that’s when hope flutters in and encourages us.
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| Hummingbird from Pixabay |
Emily Dickinson obviously knew hope intimately:
“Hope” is the thing
with feathers -
That
perches in the soul -
And sings
the tune without the words -
And never
stops - at all -
And
sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -
And sore
must be the storm -
That
could abash the little Bird
That kept
so many warm -
I’ve
heard it in the chillest land -
And on
the strangest Sea -
Yet -
never - in Extremity,
It asked
a crumb - of me.
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