Ash Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore to you double. –Zechariah 9:12
“So,” she asked, “what are you giving up for Lent? Chocolate? Sugar? Wine? Whining?” “No,” her friend replied, “this year I’m giving up hopelessness.”
Giving up hopelessness? What does that really mean? Can we give up hopelessness the same way we give up chocolate? Or even the same way we give up whining?
This imaginary conversation raises intriguing questions about the nature of the hopelessness we sometimes carry. Can we choose hope, and by extension, do we choose hopelessness? Are there ways hopelessness–and also hope–are habits we can cultivate and change? If hope is a gift from God, is hopelessness the absence of that gift, or is it our inability to recognize the gift, or our fear that it is not meant for us?
Perhaps the best answer to all those question is something like, “Yes, and there’s more to it than that.” We can’t give up hopelessness by sheer force of will, the way we might be able to give up chocolate. But an act of will might be the first step on a long journey of claiming hope. On that journey, developing new habits might be an important step–interrupting old destructive patterns, making a choice to notice hope. In the end, if hope is a gift from God, then giving up hopelessness involves prayer–opening ourselves to receive that gift.
Lent is a time to begin that long journey, from hopelessness to hope.
O God, we pray for courage to let go of our hopelessness, persistence to change our habits, grace to receive your gift of hope. Amen.