Replacing Dread with Hope

Hope is the Thing with Feathers

“Hope” is the thing with feathers -

That perches in the soul -

And sings the tune without the words -

And never stops - at all -

And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -

And sore must be the storm -

That could abash the little Bird

That kept so many warm -

I’ve heard it in the chillest land -

And on the strangest Sea -

Yet - never - in Extremity,

It asked a crumb - of me.

by Emily Dickinson

For people who suffer, hope can feel like a trick. How many disappointments must I face before I give up hoping? How long should I wait for my son to be in touch? For my wife to reconcile with me? For my cancer to go into remission? For my job to get better? For our country to find its way back to sanity? If I dare hope, isn't it likely that hope will be dashed again? Sadly, yes, it is likely! Hope in things turning out the way you want is likely to leave you feeling like you've been tricked. It's Lucy and the football.

But what about the alternative? Despair and dread make life into an anxious, miserable slog. Every day, more fear, more depression, and cynicism. It may feel like we have no choice but to live with the sense of being in a boat heading toward a fatal waterfall. We will be lonely, we will be abandoned, we will be sick, we will die. But do we have a choice between dread and hope? Yes, we have a choice. We have to hope for the right thing.

Instead of hoping for a particular outcome, we have to learn to hope in the bird the poet mentions, the one that perches in our hearts. The natural, internal miracle that keeps us alive will sing to us in a tune without words, perhaps as breath, perhaps as birdsong, perhaps as the cry of someone who needs our help. We will feel the presence of a spirit that never leaves us so long as we are alive, and some believe it remains even after we die. Come home to that hope and let go of all other hopes. Put those wishes we cling to, reasonable and worthy but beyond our grasp, into the hands of the all-mighty, and hope instead to be held in the hollow of God's hand. That's the hope that asks not a crumb of us.