Perfect Brightness of Hope

I want to talk about what it means to have a perfect brightness of hope. And to do that, I want to share part of a conversation written by JRR Tolkien between the mortal woman Andreth and the immortal Elf Finrod: "‘Have ye then no hope?’ said Finrod.

‘What is hope?’ she said. ‘An expectation of good, which though uncertain has some foundation in what is known? Then we have none.’

‘That is one thing that Men call “hope,”‘ said Finrod. ‘Amdir we call it, “looking up.” But there is another which is founded deeper. Estel we call it, that is “trust.” It is not defeated by the ways of the world, for it does not come from experience, but from our nature and first being. If we are indeed the Eruhin, the Children of the One, then He will not suffer Himself to be deprived of His own, not by an Enemy, not even by ourselves. This is the last foundation of Estel, which we keep even when we contemplate the End: of all His designs the issue must be for His Children’s joy. Amdir you have not, you say. Does no Estel at all abide?’" We need hope in all of its manifestations as we make our way through this life. Sometimes the hope shines brilliantly, painting a rosy picture of a better tomorrow. We can look up eagerly. But we can not always have this kind of hope. Sometimes we have to look deep inside ourselves for hope, not necessarily the hope that things will get better right away, but that our pain and our sorrow will matter in the end. That it will all be worth it, somehow. This hope has a much softer brightness. It is the hope that God's light and his love is woven into every atom of the universe, into every moment of our lives. It is the hope that there can be beauty and value found in our darkest, most painful moments. It is the hope that Nothing, "neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38-39). When we look up and we pray that an illness will be healed, that death will be thwarted, that depression and despair will be chased away, that a loved one will see the light and repent, that a child will come, that forgiveness will be granted, that dreams will come true, and they do not… hope remains. Hope surrounds us. Hope is in all things, through all things, of all things. If we look up and can see no hope, then we must look down, or left, or right, or deep inside of us. We must find that perfect brightness of hope, whether it be blinding as the sun or the merest flicker of the tiniest spark. God created us that we might have joy, perhaps not today or this week or this year, perhaps, not even for the rest of this mortal life, long or short that it may be. But if we can press forward with steadfastness, with a perfect brightness of hope, with an acknowledgement that things might not get better right away but with the acknowledgment that hope and the love of God abides deep inside us, whether we can see it or not, whether we admit that it exists or not, whether all of the evidence of the pain and the heartache and the despair demands that it does not, yet still it is there, with a brightness that perfectly matches our circumstances. The Savior of mankind descended below all things because He carried with Him this hope: that we are worth it. He took upon Himself all of our pain and suffering because He believed in the joy that lay on the other side. I know that sometimes we can't see through the darkness. I know that sometimes the brightness of hope is so dim that it takes all of our will and focus to perceive it. But in such circumstances, that is the perfect brightness of hope. When we are at the bottom of the abyss, the hope at the top of the mountain would blind us and add to our pain and despair. It is a mercy that in the deepest and darkest hole we can still find a hope that does not overwhelm us, but reminds us to keep pressing forward, through the pain and the tragedy and the loss, until little by little our burdens lighten and our hope lightens up our surroundings a little more. And that light will grow brighter and brighter until the perfect day, when there shall be no more sorrow and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will wipe away all our tears.