A Light in the Darkness
Hope. A light in the darkness. That was our destination. “Keep our eyes on the light,” I said, for my daughter’s benefit, but also for my own. It was a frigid, dark night in the middle of an ice storm, and I found myself locked out of the house, along with my 4-year-old and baby. We had no phone, no keys, and no one around. You see, my two daughters and I had traveled to a friend’s wedding, when, during the reception, an ice storm hit. Being far from home, my friend’s parents graciously offered for us to stay at their home, an offer I gratefully accepted. Having been to their country home several times, I was familiar with the area.
But what I wasn’t familiar with was the lock on their front door. So, after braving slick, treacherous conditions, we finally arrived at their home, kids already slumbering in the van. I entered the house, dropping off my purse and keys on the table before going out to retrieve the girls. Things took a dramatic turn when, holding my daughter, I tried the door handle, and it was locked. Unbeknownst to me, the lock needed to be manually unlocked from the inside. This is how we found ourselves locked out of the house, in the cold dark, in the middle of the ice storm.
A Destination
Looking around, I set eyes on the security light of a farm down the road. Taking my oldest by the hand, my baby on my hip, we walked down the desolate, slushy road toward that light – a light that pierced the night, a light that brought with it hop: the hope of warmth, the hope of help.
As we carefully walked, my daughter would look up at me and ask, “How much further, mommy?” I would say, “Do you see that light? Keep your eyes on that light. That is where we are going.” I don’t recall how long it took, but eventually we reached that light which illuminated a farmhouse, where we did indeed find much needed help and hot chocolate.
The entire ordeal is something we can now look upon and laugh about, but at the time there were dozens of things which could have happened to us. Yet it was that light that kept our hope alive in the middle of the darkness.
Challenges
I was recently speaking with a young adult who was contemplating her upcoming wedding to her fiancé. I know them both to be lovely people, faith-filled and virtuous. They have the entirety of their lives ahead of them, and yet in our conversation there was a bit of hopelessness in her thoughts – worries about finances, where they might live, or where they would work. It’s a sentiment that I’ve heard with more regularity these days, one which I meet with concern.
I’m not naïve about the challenges life throws our way. The opportunities for uncertainty are plentiful. Things are ever changing, and it seems in some ways chaos is ever ensuing, threatening our peace and stability. Yet times such as these are not new to our human experience.
Purpose & Value
If you haven’t read it, I would encourage you to read the book, Man’s Search for Meaning. Author Viktor Frankl, a Jewish psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor, recounts his experiences in a concentration camp and proposes that man is not motivated by pleasure (as taught by Freud) but rather is motivated by a sense of purpose and value. In it he writes,
“A human being is not one thing among others; things determine each other, but man is ultimately self-determining. What he becomes – within the limits of endowment and environment – he has made out of himself. In the concentration camps, for example, in this living laboratory and on this testing ground, we watched and witnessed some of our comrades behave like swine while others behaved like saints. Man has both potentialities within himself; which one is actualized depends on decisions but not on conditions.”
Hope In Christ
Experiencing difficulties and suffering in life is not new. What is new is that through our encounter with the Living God, we can live a life of hope in Christ Jesus, one that does not negate the trials we face, but rather transforms them in union with our Savior’s suffering upon the cross. As we read in Pope Benedict’s encyclical Spe Salvi (Saved in Hope),
“So now we can say: Christianity was not only “good news”—the communication of a hitherto unknown content. In our language we would say: the Christian message was not only “informative” but “performative”. That means: the Gospel is not merely a communication of things that can be known—it is one that makes things happen and is lifechanging. The dark door of time, of the future, has been thrown open. The one who has hope lives differently; the one who hopes has been granted the gift of a new life.”
This is the hope we should anchor into, the light which shines in the darkness, an eternal hope which can withstand the fleeting sufferings of our world.
Growing In Hope
So how do we grow in this hope? Fortunately, Pope Benedict gives us three areas to focus upon to grow in hope. First, he recommends we pray, recognizing that the source of our hope isn’t an idea or thing, but rather the person of Jesus Christ. We are not playthings of an impersonal god, but rather intimately known and loved by the Creator of the Universe. Our prayer needs to reflect this.
Second, we need to recognize that suffering isn’t something to run from, but rather an opportunity for transformation. It may seem counterintuitive, but hopelessness is found in unnecessarily avoiding life’s trials.
“It is when we attempt to avoid suffering by withdrawing from anything that might involve hurt, when we try to spare ourselves the effort and pain of pursuing truth, love, and goodness, that we drift into a life of emptiness, in which there may be almost no pain, but the dark sensation of meaninglessness and abandonment is all the greater.” Spe Salvi (Saved in Hope)
Finally, Pope Benedict recommends we remember our death and judgement – in Latin, memento mori. In keeping our eyes fixed on our final judgement we realize the trappings of this life are fleeting, and we then strive in virtue, and encourage others around us to do the same.
Christian Hope
Recall from Tolkien’s The Return of the King, a moment when all seemed lost. Struggling through Mordor with Frodo, Sam looked up and “saw a bright star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart… and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty forever beyond its reach.” That’s the essence of Christian hope: that when we encounter life’s uncertainties, difficulties, and trials, we still set our gaze upon the light, the light of our God, knowing that come what may, our Lord’s love and care for us can penetrate any darkness which may surround us.
Written by Susan Hoefer. This article first appeared in Family Foundations magazine, a benefit for donors to the Couple to Couple League. For engaged couples, find CCL’s NFP for Marriage Prep here. Find CCL’s PeakDay STMethodfor married couples here.