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STRING OF HOPE
Your liberation
is near at hand. Luke 21:28
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In a nineteenth century painting entitled HOPE the
artist portrays a woman with bandaged eyes. She
is unable to see ahead of herself. In her hands
is a harp with broken strings, representing her
shattered dreams and expectations. Immediately
beneath the woman is a globe, representing the
world that is pitted against her. Still one string
on the harp remains intact. It is the string of
hope, which she plucks triumphantly, sending a
beautiful melody floating out over that hostile
world, and filling the dark night with bright-shining
stars. Over the years, the artist received many
letters from persons who saw the painting and
identified with the woman whose future seemed
as dark as the night. One woman said that at a
time when her life had become unbearable and she
was ready to end it all, quite by chance she saw
the wonderful painting. In her own words. "It
inspired me to strike the string of hope within
my own soul—and I was able to face the world
and try again."
The
story ends there. Actually, we don't
know what it was that the woman was inspired to
try again, which begs the question: When we speak
of; having a future hope, what do we mean? Hope
in what? There is an old love song that begins…
Dear, when you smiled at me
I heard a melody
It haunted me from the start. |
All nature seemed to de
In perfect harmony
Zing went the strings of my heart.
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The dramatic, apocalyptic language in the title
Scripture has been interpreted in various ways.
Some have maintained that Jesus was announcing
the destruction of Jerusalem (which was not far
off). Others have interpreted it as Jesus' account
of the end of human history (we know better than
that). Still others feel that Jesus' language
symbolizes the continuing revelation of the Christ
Consciousness through all the movements and turmoil
of human history. There will
be signs in the Sun and Moon and the Stars, Jesus
says, on earth nations in
agony, bewildered by the clamor of the ocean and
its waves; men dying of fear as they await what
menaces the world. (Luke 21:25-26).
But in the midst of all the derisible turmoil,
Jesus tells us, our Liberation
is near at hand (Luke 21:28).
Hearing this Good News, Zing goes our string
of hope. Or does it? Again the question: When
we speak of having hope in the future, when we
speak of liberation, when we speak of freedom
from iniquity what do we mean? The answer is sweet
and simple; it comes down to the difference between
loving and hating. Hate and you are a prisoner
of iniquity. Love and love alone is the key to
your liberation. To love is to be fulfilled and
enriched as a human person-- a liberating experience.
To hate is to be diminished and drained-- a dehumanizing
experience. Lovers,
by losing themselves in their loving, find themselves,
become themselves, become the kinds of persons
God made them to be. Haters simply lose themselves.
(Fredrick Buechner)
If you are feeling like the whole world is caving
in on you and you want desperately to get out
from under, what can you do? What can you try?
In (Eph. 5:10) Paul's advice
is also sweet and simple.Try
to discover what the Lord wants of you.
In other words, no matter how hard you try, you
can't do it alone. You achieve
the blessed, liberating peace of mind and heart
and soul you need and want by the Grace of God.
By God you not only have been given life, but
also, by Jesus, you have been given the example
for your way of life.
After not having seen each other for ten years,
two women met by chance. One said to the other,"My
goodness, Helen, you have changed so that I hardly
recognize you." To which Helen
replied, "That's
a little ambiguous. Tell me, have I changed for
better or for worse?" The other
woman said enthusiastically, "Why,
Helen, you could only change for the better, of
course!" To tell the truth--
the only way any of us want to change is for the
better. That is why the call to change (repent),
to turn our lives around is incessant. Whatever
we do, we are called to do better.
It is said that once, when Thomas Edison stood
on the beach and looked out at the ocean's
incoming waves, he literally wept because, as
he saw it, such vast amounts of throbbing energy
was going to waste. It also has been said that
a waste far more worthy of our tears is
the enormous energy within us that never gets
channeled: the love that is never expressed; the
kindness that never surfaces; the compassion and
tenderness that are never awakened; the forgiveness
that is suppressed. (Adapted,
S. Greenberg, Say Yes To Life)
Today, each of us would do well to ask ourselves:
Given the way of life revealed to me in the teachings
of Jesus…Have I grown in my hummanity?
Have I changed for the better? Have I become a
more caring person? Have I Become a more tolerant
person? Have I become a more forgiving person? Have
I become a more LOVING person?
In sum---- To what
extent have I experienced liberation?
In the very midst of the chaos and confusion
all around me, to what extent am I experiencing
peace of mind and heart and soul? Whoever you
are, continue to seek answers to these questions.
And, in so doing your liberation is at hand.
And in the trying. Zing
goes your string of hope.
Blessings,
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