Coco Calling No.263 - The Counterbalance of Hope and Tragedy
Coco
1 day ago
2 min read
I live a very happy life, for which I’m always grateful. I’m well loved, I’m well fed, I’m healthy, good looking and above all, I feel safe. And I suppose that my lifestyle, as a cosseted family pet, means that I’m protected from many of the threats and dangers and difficulties of life.
It’s not always the same for my feathered friends out in the garden, and it definitely isn’t that way for many humans around the world. And I was recently reminded of this when news came through that my owners’ Goddaughter had taken her own life. She was just 19 and had been battling mental health problems for a great many years. It was the tragic culmination to a very tragic life. And of course, when things like this happen, lots of humans ask questions about the existence of God and, if He does exist, why He doesn’t intervene. And there’s no simple answer to that question, because miraculous as our world is, nobody knows why it’s also a place of imperfection and suffering.
But perhaps the biggest tragedy of all afflicts those humans that go through life believing that this imperfect world is all there is; that God and Heaven are merely figments of the imagination. Because then they are denying themselves the hope that has been given to us all; the hope that helps us to ride out the storms, the turmoil and the tragedies of our present world.
Although I’ve lived a sheltered life, I know that hope can lead to faith; that faith can lead to trust; and that trust can lead to a knowing and an expectation and a certainty. This life is but a millisecond in the whole scheme of things. So maybe we need to ride out the storms of life to fully appreciate the eternity that awaits.
“Hope itself is like a star, -not to be seen in the sunshine of prosperity, and only to be discovered in the night of adversity.”
(Charles Haddon Spurgeon: [1834-1892]: English Baptist preacher still referred to today as ‘the Prince of Preachers’)
“Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.”
(Desmond Tutu: [1931-2021]: South African Archbishop and prominent anti-apartheid campaigner)
“Hope is the gift of God to the human soul, and the anchor of our hearts.”
(John Wesley: [1703-1791]: English cleric, theologian and prominent leader of the Methodist movement)
“The love of God is one of the great realities of the universe, a pillar upon which the hope of the world rests.”
(A.W. Tozer: [1897-1963]: American Christian pastor and author)
“I’ve read the last page of the Bible. It’s all going to turn out all right.”
(Billy Graham: [1918-2018]: Prominent American evangelist)
“We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.”
