We are living in a time of despair. According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control), the life expectancy rate is declining in America due to what they are calling “diseases of despair.” Drug abuse, alcoholism, and suicide. If despair is, in fact, killing us, what does it look like to foster hope in dark times? There is no easy answer to this question, and each person’s journey is unique, but the thing that unites us all is a desperate need for hope.
When I was a kid we had a thick, illustrated copy of John Bunyan’s book, Pilgrim’s Progress. I have nostalgic childhood memories of flipping through the pictures and reading the book with my parents. In the Christian allegory Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan introduces a character, Hopeful, who encourages the character named “Christian” on his pilgrimage. Both Hopeful and Christian are imprisoned by the Giant Despair in the course of their journey; Hopeful encourages Christian through this ordeal. Later, at the last stage of their journey, they must cross a deep river in order to reach the gates of heaven, and Christian begins to despair as he sinks. Hopeful provides the final encouragement that enables Christian to reach the other side: “Be of good cheer, my brother, I feel the bottom, and it is good.”
The bottom is Christ, who has gone before us all and suffered, humbled himself below us all, in order to fuel our journey toward God. (Philippians 2:5-13)
May you also feel the bottom and see that it is good.
Susie Grade 