Hope is a Precious Gift

by Sr. Celeste Wobeter, ND

Hope. A gift God is longing to give to me – to all of as we struggle.

Hope.  A precious gift!

As I look back on my life in times of feeling helplessness, sadness and anxiety, I remember an emptiness, a fear of terrible consequences.  Wondering what to do.  Or what not to do.  Questioning.  Pondering.  Sharing the struggle with others.  Praying. Waiting.  Trusting.  Hoping.

Eventually a sense of peace and healing would seep into my life. A sense of freedom and amazement that the situation was indeed a gift, unwanted, but a gift that strengthened my hope and trust in God and others.

As I look back I see each struggle in life taught me something new. I began to be grateful for the struggle. (But I added, “Please, no more!)

My struggle with the world situation today is different.  Hope seems so hopeless.  Constant wars and destruction.  Deportation of thousands of good people resulting in separation from family, children being homeless.  Unrest and fear in our country and the world!

I pray.  I write letters.  I talk about this with others.  It feels so hopeless.

In my hopelessness and frustration, I go to Scripture:

• “I am with you always, yes, until the end of time.”
• Even though I walk through the dark valley, I do not fear for you, O God, are with me always and give me courage.
• Jesus reminding me, “You have not chosen me; I have chosen you to go forth and share the good news.”

Teilhard de Chardin writes:  Let us give to God the benefit of believing that the Divine Hand is leading us surely though the obscurity and the becoming, and accept for love of God, the anxiety of feeling ourselves in suspense and incomplete.