A dose of hope

“I’m losing hope,” my friend lamented. It was understandable—watching her son make another round in his cycle of addiction. Words of encouragement have a hollow sound when there isn’t any change. I listened to the silence on the other end of the phone. In a time when addictions are common, money problems are prevalent, and happiness is elusive, hope can take a beating.

I remember Grandma’s hope. She never talked about her divorce, but I do remember her telling me about the ice-cream shop. When she needed a job to make it on her own, Mr. Shubert gave her a chance.

She rose at 4 am to mix cream and sugar and operate the hand cranks that churned fresh ice cream. By the time customers would wander in, Grandma had been at work for six hours. What gave her hope?

Oh, she’d often tell me what gave her hope. While she was doing all she could to provide for her son, she wasn’t the only one working. God was too. She was waiting on God for what was next. Her faith gave her hope to cope with life’s problems. Life wasn’t all that easy in the 1930s. And waiting for better days took years.

Hope means waiting expectantly for what isn’t available today. If you need a dose of hope, look to those who keep working while they wait. And most important, putting our hope in God gives us the assurance that we aren’t working alone.

Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord. Psalms 31:24