Earlier this week I was talking with some friends about hope and about how it sometimes feels risky to hope. Why set yourself up for possible disappointment? What if I hope and then I'm let down? Then we talked about how faith is being certain of what you HOPE for.
Today as I was reading a reflection/meditation, I came across this
"I believe that, as "children of the resurrection" we are both burdened and brightened by a cosmic and irrepressible hope- and we can never fully live up to it. We are both burdened and brightened with the gift of an optimism whose head waters are neither rational, scientific, nor even provable to those who do not have it, yet, it ticks away from a deep place within us"
Why do I dare to hope? Dare to dream? Dare to encourage others to do the same? It only sets us up for discouragement if our hopes are not fulfilled, right? But, what if the hope deep within me is irrepressible? It's not from my logical mind. What if it's nestled into my spirit and when I'm still and quiet, it bubbles to the surface where I can feel it with my senses and experience it...in my heart, and maybe eventually in my mind as well?
It doesn't originate where my logic and reason dominate. It begins somewhere else, and rises up into that region in my mind, politely nudging it's way in. Then it presents new ways of thinking; fresh ideas and possibilities that I hadn't considered.
It is creativity.
It is possibility, wonder, unconventional wisdom. It is the presence of the very power of creation itself.
Hope
And I want more of it.
Being stuck in what I "already know" doesn't bring me much hope. I can take those 10,000 puzzle pieces of what I already know and rearrange them for eternity yet that will never create something new. I try to convince myself that surely I have enough pieces, and if I just shift them around a bit more, I will put together a new thing. But it seems to keep leading me to the same outcome where all of the pieces fit neatly and create the logical image I had already been familiar with. Or, in my determination to make something new, the pieces get crammed into one another in new ways, leading to something dissatisfying that doesn't exactly feel right but "could" work.
Instead, I have access to unlimited new pieces to create new things that I haven't yet seen or imagined. When I spend time in stillness and contemplation and receiving from the ultimate creative source, I get so many more pieces to create with! It brings me hope! It allows me to dream that possibilities are actually endless and often just beyond what I have settled for already knowing or understanding.
Of course, there are other practices that can help us discover the gift of hope, but this one is most notable for me. Being quiet and listening....Being still and waiting....trusting that hope is there, even when I am having difficulty experiencing it.
