Offering Hope

As I sit and write this article, the neighbor’s mower is running in the background.  Our neighbor has cancer, but he still is able to mow his lawn.  As I reflect on our plans for this evening, we have invited some other neighbors over to watch football with us.  I am not sure if the husband will join us, because he too has cancer.  Is there something in our water or in the air?  One might jump to such a conclusion, but I believe it is far broader than that.  How we interpret the facts makes a huge difference as to how we approach those around us.

It is no secret that there is a lot of sickness, heartache, and pain in our world today.  Yet, that is not new.  The challenge for us is how do we approach it.  How do we minister to, encourage and bring hope to people that may at times appear hopeless?  How do we meet people where they are at in such a way that they are encouraged by our presence?  Do we have to have all the answers?  Certainly not!

Let’s be real!  It can be really hard to know what to say to someone that has been given a disturbing diagnosis.  They often times do not feel good.  They are not able to do all that they once were able to do.  They are in the middle of a journey and on a path not of their choosing.

The last thing we should do is nothing!  Nothing can speak volumes more than we ever desire it to.  It can express that we don’t care.  It can tell someone that we are too busy to bother.  We may not know exactly what to say, and that may be where we should start.  From there we can express our sympathies and perhaps listen more than we talk.  That even sounds scriptural (James 1:19).  But to do nothing is not loving.

There are those that will want to be prayed with and those that would prefer we don’t.  Of my two neighbors, they fit both categories.  Their approaches to each of their diagnosis are different, however both of them are desirous to find hope. 

My prayer is that they both find The Hope that they are looking for, that they learn to lean hard into Jesus, and that He fills them with an eternal hope.  Regardless of what happens on this side of eternity, I pray they will live with anticipation and confidence of what is yet to come.