A Defining Hope
Upset, scared, and angry, my friends decided to spend some time on their knees in lament and confession. They wanted to express what was true in their hearts—their pain, confusion, outrage, fear, and desire surrounding the loss of their job. I also sensed a slight numbness of not knowing what else to do. Their world has just imploded on them with no real explanation from their boss or any options to sort it out on the horizon. They chose to pray. They chose to cling to each other and to the Lord.
The Absurdity of Hope
As I pondered this prayer, it occurred to me that hope is a mixed blessing. It keeps us going when all seems lost. It also intensifies our sense that something is not quite right with the world. Hope anticipates, living in the gap when darkness comes instead of light, when evil comes instead of good. Hope leans forward when waiting is all we’ve got.
Day 14 – Redefining Our Empty Spaces
As we’ve considered all our sorrows and all our griefs, we’ve come to see that the “nothing” of our empty spaces is actually a something. It’s a something that hurts. It’s a something that has, perhaps, even drawn our attention to the deeper empty places in our own stories where we’ve experienced trauma, suffering, deprivation, and loss. Emptiness evokes so many deep feelings. And we can surely find hopelessness slithering its way into the cracks and corners.
Day 13 – Loss of “Missing Things”
There is within each of us a desire for something “more.” A something that is missing. A something that no things and no relationships seem to fill.
Day 12 – Loss of Creativity
We know from brain science that under stress, our brains are less focused, our attention is scattered, and we are less efficient in many ways. In other words, if Korsten is correct about creativity, this time of COVID crisis should produce a high yield of creativity and innovation.
Day 11 – Loss of Emotional Control
Take heart, friends: it is completely normal to experience a loss of emotional control in the midst of an abnormal situation. Our body’s fight or flight system kicks in when we are faced with a threat, and we can find ourselves coming apart at the seams, flooded with feelings that don’t seem to make logical sense. Or feeling nothing—shut down, and unable to have loving feelings for others.
