Words of Hope: True Desire
What is your true desire? Can you peel back the reasons for the way you want to live?
I consider this as I think over the death of my father and in many ways loss of my mother. They were so integrally connected. What defined their lives? Houses? Cars? Titles?
I consider those who pass on, people who the world knows by name— Princess Diana, Robin Williams, Abraham Lincoln, Maya Angelou. What matters to them now? How would they have lived differently?
I also consider the nameless children killed in the genocide sites we visit for Shann’s research. Where is the hope in this consideration?
The hope is something beyond this present moment. Ultimately, we must exchange our views of God as the magic Genie who grants our wishes and fulfills all our secret desires—wanting God to make us god, to make our lives more remarkable, more comfortable, more….
What does hope in God truly promise? Overflowing hope — springing from authentic joy and peace as we trust God. Hope for something not seen.
What is that hope? At the purest essence it is LOVE, true community, communion with God and with all we love. A promise of life eternal, of a reordered world with peace at the center, of awe reawakened into highest praise. This Hope exists even in our sorrow, our great losses, our beloved loves, our own hopes and dreams, frailties, harms: all our desolations and consolations. For as Ignatius said, below everything God is the God of all consolation.
What are you living for?
Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you. – Matthew 6:33
