When Hope becomes Strength

Years ago I heard about a school system in a large city that had a program to help children keep up with their work during long stays in the hospital. One day a teacher was called in to visit a young boy. However, no one had mentioned to her that he had been badly burned and was in great pain. Upset at the sight of the boy, she stammered as she told him, “I’ve been sent to help you with nouns and adverbs.” She later left feeling as though she hadn’t helped at all.

The next day, a nurse approached the teacher and asked, “What did you say to that boy?” The teacher thought she must have done something wrong and began to apologize. “Oh no,” said the nurse, “That’s not what I mean. We’ve been so worried about him. But ever since your visit yesterday, his whole attitude has changed. He’s fighting and responding to treatment. It’s as though he’s decided to live.”

Later, after the boy recovered, he explained that he had completely given up hope until the teacher showed up. He said, “They wouldn’t send a teacher to work on nouns and adverbs with a dying boy, would they?”
G.K. Chesterton once wrote, “Hope means hoping when things are hopeless, or it is no virtue at all… As long as matters are really hopeful, hope is mere flattery or platitude; it is only when everything is hopeless that hope begins to be a strength.”

Let us pray: In the darkest moments of night, it is hard to believe there is a way forward. When we can’t see a path, when we can’t see a future, when we can’t see your gifts along the way, that is when we need you most. I pray today for those who feel they are in that place, O God. I ask for them an overwhelming measure of hope, a desire to overcome, a willingness to ask for help, and a strength and a courage that is beyond them. I entrust them to your care. Rest your Spirit on them and on each of us. Fill us with your peace. Amen.