We’ve been focused a lot on suffering this year. Suffering of illness and death, as well as suffering of loneliness, hopelessness, and lost livelihoods. Suffering of broken relationships, conflict, and conflict avoidance. Sometimes the hope of Christ seems very, very far away.

How do we acknowledge the suffering and also hang on to hope? Hope is not denial of reality.

I’ve battled hopelessness this year. For me it, it has to do with fears of how our society is changing, how government policies are harming the vulnerable, how polarized our culture has become, and what kind of world my children will live in. I recognize that others in other positions wrestle with hopelessness for very different reasons.

Does having hope mean passively waiting around? Are we just hanging on until COVID cases drop? Are we just hanging on until government mandates stop affecting our everyday life? Are we just hanging on until things “go back to normal,” whatever that means?

Passively hanging on to hope hasn’t worked that well for me. Instead, I’ve had to proactively pursue hope by engaging in practices that promote truth, goodness, and beauty. These three virtues are often discussed in the homeschooling world, and I’ve tried to build our family life around their cultivation.

How does this look practically for our family? We get outside and marvel at God’s creation. We look at beautiful art, and try our hand at making beautiful things. We learn from the lives of courageous people who walked in kindness, even in the midst of difficulty. We revel at the order of mathematics and grammar. We sing together. We laugh at silly poems. We meditate on Scripture.

We’re training our hearts and minds to focus on the good instead of being bogged down by the bad. In our conversations, we aim to speak not only the truth, but with kindness. (Sometimes we are more successful at this than other times!) We search for beauty by embracing gratitude for the gifts in our lives.

There will always be hardship, but there will also always be hope. Hope involves waiting, but it also involves living. I am living with the knowledge that God is with me, even while I wait to be fully with God.  God will continue to be with me, just as God has been with God’s people throughout history, through all kinds of suffering. God will walk with my children in their uncertain future.

How are my thoughts affecting my level of hope? How do I speak to myself about all that has happened this year? How can my inner monologue promote hope?

If I am to live in hope, the conversation in my heart and in my head has to focus on truth, goodness, and beauty instead of the chaos around me. This does not mean I ignore the problems, but it does mean that I have to actively pursue good things.

I can focus on what I have control over – and I still have control over a lot of things, especially my attitude. I can speak the truth of Scripture to myself, and look for the goodness and beauty of God surrounding me, and this improves my attitude. I still have control over how I spend a lot of my time. I still have control of how I respond to others. I still have control over how I nourish my body, spirit, and mind.

Romans 12:12 – Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.