Defining Hope
If you need to slay a dragon, you’ll want a sword; hope will serve. Hope conquered space, thrusting men toward the moon. Hope overcame the darkness of slavery with the light of freedom. Hope fought evil and declared victory in WW II. Hope is a powerful weapon against any adversary, including that dragon called cancer. Hope enabled me to endure the dragon’s fiery breath; I was scorched, but not consumed. The dragon looming large did inflict some damage, but not a fatal blow. Fighting the dragon took most of my energy and time, but with hope as my weapon, we took on its weak underbelly of fear and dread. Hope for the future gave me power for the present.
When people urge those with a cancer diagnosis to “have hope,” they need to finish the sentence by explaining IN what and FOR what. Hope in what? Medicine? Doctors? Kale? Additionally, hope for what? A cure? A better quality of life? Peace through hardships? Every individual can create their own ending to the sentence. Regardless of what people hope for or place their hope in, if they understand that this life is not all there is, they will be able to sustain hope despite hardships.
When my oncologist told me my triple-negative, stage 4 cancer had a 90% return rate, I did not hesitate. I told him, “Well, then, I’m in the other 10%!” Positivity must be a first-cousin of hope! People without hope may assume the worst, but I held out hope for the best-case scenario. I’ve since read about a doctor who told a bone marrow transplant patient that statistics were true only for a group of patients as a whole. “For each individual the chance of survival was either 0% or 100%. Each one would either live or not live—no in-betweens!”* Good insight; we can’t let statistics about others dim our hopes. What hope does not do, though, is deny reality. It simply finds the redeeming facets of the circumstances. Hope summons the power to believe.
Hope’s range of meanings include: to wait for, look for, or to expect something beneficial in the future. In a spiritual sense, hope is often paired with the idea of waiting and suffering before one’s hopes are realized. Because hope involves time, it is also frequently linked to patience. The saying, “the patience of Job” is derived from the Bible story of Job who endures all manner of suffering without giving up. Contrary to the opinions of others, Job held out hope life would eventually make sense. His hope allowed him to go on for another day. His wife, obviously without any hope for the future, advised Job to “curse God and die” (Job 2:9). If you are not familiar with the story, Job was wise to hope—there was a happy ending.
The Oxford dictionary includes an archaic definition of hope which is my favorite: A feeling of trust. That definition imparts a lovely aspect to Hope by personifying her. Like a mother deserving the trust of her child or a dear friend earning the trust of another, Hope seems to exude life. I imagine Hope as reaching her arms out in welcoming comfort. I see truth shining in her eyes, with the assurance that there is meaning and purpose beyond my distress. Hope whispers to me, “You can do this.” Knowing Hope, makes pain and heartache bearable because she enables us to look beyond immediate realities.
Though hope is anticipation of the future, its beauty is that it influences how you feel in the present! The New York Times cites an example of a program in India which gives families an aid package of a cow or a few goats. People then turn their life around, but not, claims the writer, due to one cow. Their situation changes and their mental health improves due to the “mechanism of hope.” Give impoverished people a “reason to hope they can achieve a better life, and that can be self-fulling.”
“Poverty is not just poverty of money or income,” noted Sir Fazle Abed, founder of a Bangladeshi aid group. “We also see a poverty of self-esteem, hope, opportunity and freedom. People trapped in a cycle of destitution often don’t realize their lives can be changed for the better through their own activities. Once they understand that, it’s like a light gets turned on.”*
People facing a devastating diagnosis such as cancer may also experience poverty of hope (to use Sir Abed’s phrase). To inspire hope in others, we can counsel them to avoid dwelling on the past since that cannot be changed. Additionally, we can point out reasons to have hope. We can show them how others in worse positions have remained hopeful. An especially inspiring video of a quadriplegic could help. SSG Travis Mills on “Goalcast” shares how he lost arms and legs when a bomb went off next to him in Afghanistan. Using humor throughout his presentation, he cheerfully recounts how he appreciates life and works to uplift others.* In other words, we can “introduce” Hope to others.
Hope is like a little seed which grows into something strong and splendid. It can grow into belief—belief in a better tomorrow, belief you can keep going even when your body wants to give up. Hope can branch out into joy and blossom into faith. Like leafy shade, Hope can spread encouragement to others. Hope is a small word, yet it can have a large impact. It is the difference between trying again and giving up. However, the ultimate hope can be found in God—“the God of hope” as He is titled in Romans 15:13. “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
* Lynn Eib. When God and Cancer Meet. (Carol Stream: Tyndale Momentum, 2002), 47.
* Nicholas Kristof, “The Power of Hope Is Real,” The New York Times, 21 May 2015.
* SSG Travis Mills for NCQA - National Committee for Quality Assurance
Reflection:
1. In what or in whom are you placing your hopes?
2. Do you feel sorry for yourself? What can you do to avoid “pity parties”?