DailyConnections.net

MONDAY THOUGHT 6/22/09

Hope
 
Sometimes life just hurts … and hurts like hell.  And, no, God doesn’t swoop in like Batman to save the day.  I wish He did.  A man I know, in his 50s, is in the final stages of cancer.  Another I know of, in his 30s, died of a heart attack without warning, and the pain I saw in his mother’s eyes the other day will haunt me for a long time.  I also learned last week of a boy of 19 who was diagnosed with cancer.  Plus, like all of us, I see a growing number of people who are out of work and  living with an ice-cold ball of terror in their gut as bills pile up, mortgages go unpaid.  Lots of desperate people.  
 
Something brilliant should be inserted here, but I can’t think of what it should be  Sorry.  Sometimes it just makes no sense.  There are times when faith has nothing to do with proof or answered prayers … but just faith.  There are times when you can pray — Lord, please, please, please — ’til the cows come home … and they don’t come home.  But God has something else in mind.  This I do believe.  No, this I do know.  (Oh, and, no, I cannot prove it to you, which is kind of the point.) 
 
More to the point:  The only thing I know about God is that, yes, He is here … right here.  I’m not going to say “There, there, it’s all for the best” or whistle the final song from the movie, Life of Brian (“Look on the Bright Side of Life”).  In fact, the only prayer I know at these times is, “Lord, have mercy.”  Joyful?  No.  Comforting?  Not likely.   Just rocky, shaky, stumblingly, faithfully pure hope … without the slightest bit of proof.  — jri
 
“But hope that is seen is no hope at
all.  Who hopes for what he already
has?  But if we hope for what we do
not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in
our weakness.  We do not know what
we ought to pray for, but the Spirit
himself intercedes for us with groans
that words cannot express.”
    –    St. Paul
           (Romans 8:24-26)
 
Thank you for letting me into your lives today.  Please pray for all who suffer from anxiety due to loss and illness.  Also, if you would, please kick in a prayer for a special intention for me. Thank you and may God bless you and fill your heart with hope, faith and joy.
John Ingrisano
DailyConnections
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