Welcoming 2008 with Hope

The new year brings fresh begin­nings, unique oppor­tu­ni­ties, novel expe­ri­ences, new friends, hope­fully, and mem­o­rable days with old friends. It is the time of year when the biggest cynic can’t help but feel optimistic!

Last week I was vis­it­ing with a group of friends from high school and col­lege. We get together every year dur­ing the hol­i­days to share a meal, rem­i­nisce and catch up on what’s hap­pen­ing in each other’s lives.

One of my dear­est friends has been a sin­gle mother for sev­eral years now. Her ex-husband has remar­ried, moved away and rarely sees or inter­acts with their son. She has done a won­der­ful job rais­ing her boy and he is a hand­some, intel­li­gent, respect­ful high school senior with an adorable girl­friend (the daugh­ter of another mutual friend) and bright future.

As we sat on her couch enjoy­ing a glass of wine and good con­ver­sa­tion, her son came into the room for a few moments to say good-night to all of us. After he retired, I turned to my friend and again com­pli­mented her, remark­ing on what a fine young man she has raised. As always, she was glow­ing with pride and love.

But then she got very seri­ous, turned to me and said, “You know what? He’s an athe­ist. He told me the other day. We were talk­ing about some­one who had died and he said, ‘Mom, I believe that when you die, that’s it.’ I had no idea he felt that way.”

Many par­ents would be not just dis­ap­pointed by such an announce­ment, but utterly dis­traught.

“What do you think about that?” I asked my friend earnestly.

“I didn’t react when he told me,” she explained. “I just said, ‘Oh, really?’ and asked him to explain why he felt that way. We had a good talk. I didn’t try to con­vince him that he should believe dif­fer­ently. I just accepted what he told me and reminded him that I am a believer and so long as he lives in my house with me, he is expected to attend church. He never thought otherwise.”

She elab­o­rated: “I don’t believe for a moment that he’s really become an athe­ist. I raised him to believe and I think this is just a rebel­lious phase that he is going through. I think he told me he doesn’t believe in God as much for shock value as any­thing else. And to test me. But I’m not wor­ried about it because he will work things out for him­self and be just fine.”

And then she added, “Besides, I pray for him like crazy and I have faith that my prayers will be heard.” She smiled as she said that.

Over the past few days, I’ve thought a lot about that con­ver­sa­tion with my friend, espe­cially within the con­text of cel­e­brat­ing the New Year.

My friend was not down­trod­den, depressed, angry, spite­ful or des­per­ate. She is not exert­ing stern con­trol over her son, demand­ing that he par­tic­i­pate in liv­ing a life of faith beyond requir­ing his cus­tom­ary atten­dance in church with her. She is not forc­ing her beliefs or will upon him.

As I con­sid­ered the sit­u­a­tion and my friend’s response, I real­ized that there are two lessons to be learned from her example.

First, she is exhibit­ing Christ-like behav­ior. We are invited but never com­pelled or required to believe in and fol­low the Sav­ior. Just like her son, we have the gift of free will. We can gra­ciously accept the gift of life offered to us or reject it. The choice is entirely up to us, but no mat­ter what we decide, we are uncon­di­tion­ally loved. Her love for her son will not change no mat­ter what he believes. She will always wel­come him into fel­low­ship with her, but she would, obvi­ously, be much hap­pier if he were to again embrace Christianity.

Our Sav­ior will always love us, but is so much hap­pier when we accept the gift of eter­nal life by being faith­ful, grate­ful ser­vants and ambassadors.

Sec­ondly, she is opti­mistic and hope­ful. She is fac­ing the days ahead and all of the chal­lenges they will bring with a cheer­ful, faith­ful and hope­ful heart. Because Chris­tian­ity is about noth­ing if not hope, she is liv­ing out her faith one moment at a time.

That rev­e­la­tion brought me to one of my all-time favorite Psalms:

No king is saved by the size of his army;
no war­rior escapes by his great strength.

A horse is a vain hope for deliv­er­ance;
despite all its great strength it can­not save.

But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him,
on those whose hope is in his unfail­ing love,

to deliver them from death
and keep them alive in famine.

We wait in hope for the Lord;
he is our help and our shield.

In him our hearts rejoice,
for we trust in his holy name.

May your unfail­ing love rest upon us, O Lord,
even as we put our hope in you.

Psalm 33:16–22

The dawn­ing of a New Year is a great time to reflect, reassess, and retool. But in this New Year, as in all pre­vi­ous years, we must remem­ber and be thank­ful for the source of our strength, sal­va­tion and hope. The truth never changes, even as the sea­sons of our lives pass by, peo­ple come into and leave our pres­ence, and we, along with our loved ones, exer­cise our free will — some­times mak­ing excel­lent choices and other times not. Through it all, our hope lies in the one who bestows his mer­ci­ful kind­ness and promise of eter­nal life upon us.

As I thought about that delight­ful young man and, like his mother, prayed that he will receive guid­ance, wis­dom and direc­tion, I found myself recit­ing the words of my very favorite Bible verse. Its truth is so sim­ple, yet so pro­found. It tells the story of that young man’s life, his mother’s life, my life, your life. My New Year’s wish for my friend and her son, for all of you and for myself is that this verse may inspire and guide all of our lives in 2008.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to pros­per you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Jere­miah 29:11

 

Visit Lynn at Spir­i­tu­ally Unequal Mar­riage, our host this week, to see the list of other participants!

Included in the Gonzo Grat­i­tude Car­ni­val at Fear and Loathing — The Gonzo Papers

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