With or Without Hope?

With or Without Hope?

This week I read a provocative reflection about hope by Wendell Berry in his group of poems, “Sabbaths 2007,” in The American Poetry Review, Jan-Feb, 2009. He started by asking: "Shall we do without hope? Some days/there will be none . . . . there have been small human acts/ of compassion, acts of care,work/flowerlike in selfless loveliness./ Leaving hope to thedark/and to a better day/ receive these beauties freely/given,and give thanks."

Berry's stream of thought reminds me that, as a Christian, I feel obligated and duty-bound to live in hope, and when hopelessness darkens my spirit, I feel guilty. He humbled me with his perspective and his sense of grace. He reminded me that God's grace does not depend upon my feeling of hope. "Let us see that, without hope,/we are still well. Let hopelessness/shrink us to our proper size."