It’s encouraging to look forward with great expectations to a time in which we can finally experience the good our hearts are longing for. But looking forward in hope also opens the door for disappointment if our desires are left unfulfilled. And sometimes this leaves us wondering if hope is worth the risk at all.
To be sure, we hope for what we don’t have. There would be no need to hope if we could already enjoy what our hearts desired. And inherent in this hope is the possibility of not seeing our desires fulfilled.
For instance, applying for a job doesn’t guarantee we’re going to get it. And every relationship might not end with happily ever after. Likewise, our ideal holiday or family gathering might turn out to be a bust.
Whatever it looks like, it’s tempting not to hope at all knowing that disappointment is a real possibility. It often seems better to kill our desires. Maybe we would be happier or at least more content if we didn’t hope so much.
But while hope is dangerous and invites risk, it’s also what gives us the courage to enter the unknown and keep our hearts open to more of the goodness available.
Perhaps we will get the job, our relationships will be an enduring success, and our family gathering will turn out to be deeply satisfying, even if imperfect.
The pursuit of true goodness reminds us our hope is worth the risk.
Even our initial setbacks and grief of this life don’t prevent God’s ultimate goodness from unfolding. And so, we hope anyway, even when there’s no human reason to do so – trusting God’s goodness is better than any risk we might endure otherwise.
In the end, there is risk in being let down and not getting what your heart hopes for. But the true goodness available is worth this risk. Keep your heart open and continue to hope anyway.
Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash
