Hope for Soul Hurricanes

You have heard it said, “Hope is not a strategy!” But I say to you that without hope no strategy will reach its igniting point.  Even the best winning strategy will fail, if not fueled by the very inclination that success is possible.  These inclinations we call “hope” are vital to human existence.  Billy Graham is credited with saying, “Hope is to the soul what oxygen is the to human body.”  Hope serves as an anchor to our souls and makes even the darkest projections of any future seem bearable and potentially redeemable (see Hebrews 6:16-20 & Jeremiah 29:11).

Hope can only be eclipsed by the shadow of our own despair.  Yet, despair’s darkness is shattered by the slightest inclining of hope!  Despair will smother hope, if given the opportunity; thus, hope must be stoked routinely with intentionality so that it’s embers can ignite the soul.  In this dance between the extremes of hope and despair, the human soul is often wrenched and torn, beaten and battered, exhausted and drained of even the desire to live – unless hope is infused as the energizing and revitalizing ingredient for sustaining a life, granting a soul the ability to endure and even embrace the next moment, the next hour, the next day.

Hope’s significance is noted by the Apostle Paul in his writings, listing it among the top three virtues.  He wrote, “Now these three remain: faith, hope and love” (1 Corinthians 13:13).  Much like the middle of an oreo cookie, hope acts like the creamy middle holding the two cookie outsides of faith and love together, forming a combination of flavors that doesn’t exist unless these elements are tasted together.  And yes, some days in life are so harsh that you need to open up this “oreo” of virtues and lick hope from the middle first, before or until faith and love can make their contributions.  Notably, because faith can only become a reality and “the proof of what is seen” (Hebrews 11:1), if first it is conceived by hope, and love can only reach its full maturation when incubated by the soothing caresses of hope.

Hope is a must for a person to survive very long.  As essential as hope is, even more crucial is the source of our hope.  Many often chose to draw their hope from other people, or place their hope in things or money.  Hope of this kind will last only for a little while and usually is depleted quickly in the rigors of the dance described above, especially when subjected to the harsher dynamics of life’s challenges.  Placing your hope in God and His eternal resources is the only way to sustain your soul in the crucibles of life and see your soul well forged for heaven’s bliss.  This kind of “living hope,” hope in God, will not disappoint when we allow God to pour it into our hearts (Romans 5:5); whereas a hope in others or things are inevitably realized as the means for a false hope, an evaporating hope, or even finding a dead end.

So as the Psalmist prompts, “Hope in God!” (Psalm 33, 39, 42, 43, 62), and therein find a source of strength that can carry you through the hardest days, the darkest nights, and prepare you for any soul hurricanes.  Properly pack your hope kit now, so when the seasons of hopelessness come -- you will be ready!

Phillip “Endel” Lee Jr., RDML (Ret.), CHC, USN

MOAA Newsletter, Chaplain’s Corner, JUNE 2023