WHEN HOPE IS NOT ENOUGH!
In
the year 1683, Vienna, the capital of Austria, was besieged; a great army of Turks,
who were then making war with the nations of Europe,
lay before it. When it was known that they were near Vienna, the Emperor of Austria fled from the
city, and the poor people in it were left in sad fear and distress. The only
person they thought likely to save them was the King of Poland, John Sobieski,
and they sent entreating him to come to their help. They knew that he could
only come to them over the northern mountains, and day after day they rose
early, and watched for the first morning light, in the hope of seeing the
Polish army on the mountains. It was anxious waiting, but hope sustained them.
The siege began in July; on the 11th of September some weary watchers were
looking out from the ramparts to the mountain of the Kalimburg, when, oh,
delightful sight! They saw something bright on the mountain side, and discerned
the lances and armour of the brave Poles marching to the rescue. That very day
Sobieski fought a bloody battle, defeated the Turks, and set Vienna free.
In
Christian thought, hope is one of the three theological virtues, the others
being faith
and charity
(love). It is distinct from the
latter two because it is directed exclusively toward the future, as fervent
desire and confident expectation.[1]
Consequently, whereas “love never ends,” hope is confined to man's life on
Earth. Why then do people still lose what its only useful to them on earth
alone, as it is said, give-up? Not only quitting today,
but also loosing faith in tomorrow? Psychologists emphasize personality and
emotional factors, while sociologists stress the influence of social and
cultural pressures on the individual, which oftentimes leads to suicide or its
attempt, but I view it that all of them are base on quitting hoping!
The
ancient Greeks used the term hope (elpis) in reference to an ambiguous, open-ended future; but the
Resurrection of Jesus Christ gave the term, for Christians, a positive
expectation and a moral quality. Throughout the New Testament, Christian hope
is closely tied to the ultimate hope of the return of Jesus Christ as the judge
of the living and the dead. Yet this eschatological
hope does not eliminate intermediate hopes for lesser goods, even for material
blessings.[2]
Hope acts in the future; it distils
joy in the present by reason of that which it sees in the future. Hope does
bring joy, it irradiates the present; trials, struggles, temptations, defeats,
are all made radiant by hopefulness. Not only is it an active state, but under
certain circumstances it is a state that beds itself in, or is upheld by, the
condition of patience, as if patience were a candlestick, and hope were the
candle. It is looking at things in the future in a bright and cheerful light -
the light of happiness.
When
hope is not enough is when our patience, waiting, futuristic desire could not
hold one again. It comes unknowingly when we are tired of waiting or expecting
what we hoped for in the future. It happens when we conclude that if we can’t
have it now, there is nothing else to be living for! Here is how hope justifies
patience.
What
relationship do you think hope can not be enough to make it work? Loosing hope
in any relationship means one is no longer ready to work it out. It not only
letting it go but involve the energy sapping letting go of any emotion
accompanying such relationship, which is tantamount to severing a part of one’s
life!
What
situation do you think hope is not enough to change? As the saying goes, there
is no hopeless situation, only hopeless people; are you quitting hope
or you want to be among those few people that have hope against hope?
Don’t
lose all hope on that child, because I know hopes always wait long enough to
see the change desired. It’s not yet time to quit that job, yes its not easy
but still to it… don’t be a quitter for you not one but someone who could hit
the curve balls thrown at him/her to eliminate him.
Before
one can have a hope that is enough, one must have a ground to expect it; the
surest of which is God. He has hope in you to deliver and fulfill your mandate,
you are part of his plan and not only that, you are crucial to His plan. Yes,
what you are seeing now does not show it, but many are the things we don’t see
but are sure of… oxygen is one; yet we have faith it is there! God is! He is
not hopeless about you, so don’t be about your issues.
Like Tonto Dike, a Nollywood actress that attempted suicide few weeks ago said, suicide is never the solution to any problem. This is for those who are contemplating it.
WITH PATIENCE I HAVE ENOUGH HOPE;
ENOUGH HOPE WILL GET ME ALL I NEED HERE!
[1] “Hope” (2012). Encyclopædia
Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite. Chicago: Encyclopædia
Britannica.
[2] Ibid.
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