One reader’s poignant response to yesterday’s blog about “Golden Nuggets” was:

Without hope, what do we have?

Hope really is the crux of it all, isn’t it? What do we have without hope? If we give up hope that our lives and the behavior and lives of our children will improve, how are we to survive?

Wikipedia defines hope in this way:

Hope is a belief in a positive outcome related to events and circumstances in one's life. Hope implies a certain amount of perseverance — i.e., believing that a positive outcome is possible even when there is some evidence to the contrary.

Perseverance is the key word here. We have all persevered beyond any reasonable expectation. We define perseverance. And then there is “evidence to the contrary.” This goes back to the golden nuggets. If no nuggets are tossed our way, the evidence points to our reality that no change is occurring. Therefore, we are left to hope against all odds…

Wikipedia goes on to state:

Hopefulness is somewhat different from optimism in that hope is an emotional state, whereas optimism is a conclusion reached through a deliberate thought pattern that leads to a positive attitude. But hope and optimism both can be based in unrealistic belief, or fantasy.

Did you know that when Pandora opened her famous box of evils, one “evil” was not allowed to escape? I didn’t know this. Consider one last quote from Wikipedia’s website:

In Human, All Too Human, existential philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche had this to say about hope:

Hope. Pandora brought the jar with the evils and opened it. It was the gods' gift to man, on the outside a beautiful, enticing gift, called the "lucky jar." Then all the evils, those lively, winged beings, flew out of it. Since that time, they roam around and do harm to men by day and night. One single evil had not yet slipped out of the jar. As Zeus had wished, Pandora slammed the top down and it remained inside. So now man has the lucky jar in his house forever and thinks the world of the treasure. It is at his service; he reaches for it when he fancies it. For he does not know that that jar which Pandora brought was the jar of evils, and he takes the remaining evil for the greatest worldly good--it is hope, for Zeus did not want man to throw his life away, no matter how much the other evils might torment him, but rather to go on letting himself be tormented anew. To that end, he gives man hope. In truth, it is the most evil of evils because it prolongs man's torment.

The obvious conclusion here is that, according to Nietzsche, hope is an evil. Hope allows man’s torment to continue.

In this blog, the last of three parts, I discuss Anne Kimble Loux’s book, The Limits of Hope. Some did not like this book because of the very nature of its message … it was not an uplifting read. Deborah Hannah’s book, An Unlit Path, is also a very sobering dose of reality, yet she manages to convey some degree of peace through her troubles. No doubt it is her spiritual outlook that allows Deborah to maintain that degree of peace … much as Patricia describes the source of her “nuggets” in this comment.

The sermon last Sunday at church provided me with additional food for thought. It was the story of the Good Samaritan. We all know that story, but did you know some of the reasons why the priest who passed the wounded Jew on the side of the road might have made that decision? He thought the man was dead; if he touched a body, he would have been unclean for seven days. Our pastor asked us if we would do something for someone else if it meant "clearing our calendar" for seven days. The Samaritan placed the Jew on the Samaritan's donkey. Did you know they had 23 miles to go to the next town? Our pastor asked if we would do something for someone if it meant we cleared our calendar for 7 days and walked 23 miles. Did you know that the two denarii the Samaritan left the innkeeper to pay for the wounded man's needs amounts to about $2,000 today for the average home in my community? (In terms of percentage of wages earned.) Would you stop and help someone if you had to clear your calendar for a week, walk 23 miles and pay $2,000 for the privilege? Now here is the kicker … what if, when the wounded man recovered, he cursed you for assisting him?

Nancy Bostock, a Florida mom who recently placed her very disturbed son in a residential treatment facility, provided her interpretation of this parable (quoted with her permission):

Last March, just as I was struggling the most with my "decision", my pastor preached on (the Good Samaritan). During the service, I was so side tracked with my new revelation I don't remember how or what the pastor actually presented but I do know I read the story much differently than he presented it. I became immersed in a new (to me anyway) dimension of the parable. I didn't see the good work that the Samaritan DID, I saw that the Good Samaritan was still GOOD even though he left the wounded man to be cared for by someone else (the Innkeeper.) The Good Samaritan was also a WISE Samaritan to know his limits and to seek appropriate help from someone better situated to help the wounded man. The Good Samaritan was willing to sacrifice for the wounded man but he quickly returned to his original journey and his original purpose. He sacrificed for the wounded man-- but he didn't give up his life or impact his family's well being for a sustained period of time. Yes, he gave the equivalent of $2,000 but he DIDN'T have to file for bankruptcy. He put the wounded man on his donkey-- he didn't buy bunk beds and put him in his home with his children. The Innkeeper provided the direct hands on care to the wounded man-- not the Good Samaritan. God still sees the Good Samaritan as good even though he basically "ditched" the wounded man with the Innkeeper and went back to his business.

… the fresh insight into the parable for me and and the decisions I was then struggling with concerning keeping my son in the home or not was nothing short of miraculous. I believe that God reached down that Sunday morning and gave me comfort and direction during my time of turmoil.

Sorry to say, I don't have any magic answers here. I struggle on a daily basis to balance hope with realistic expectations with my desire to serve my God and give freely without expectation of return. I hope I have given you some additional ideas to ponder ...

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