Holding on to Hope

I've been thinking about hope lately, job searches will do that to you, and I realize that hope is one of those vague, mysterious words that means different things to different people, gets thrown away lots and can be easily misinterpreted.

Imagine a mountain climb. Rough terrain where you've never been before. You cannot see the way ahead of you. There are boulders in the way and you feel like giving up. Just at that moment you see a rope, a rope that will help you get over the tight spot you are currently in. That rope is hope (I know it rhymes and I'm sorry about that, but I don't have another word that works). Grabbing onto the rope will help you get to the next part of the journey. Some ropes are short and are designed to help you up a small cliff. Other ropes are longer, to guide you along dangerous ice, to lead you away from treacherous chasms.

My husband thinks that one rope is all you'll need. One sturdy line from the bottom to the top. But mountains don't always work that way. Life never works that way. The problem with that view is that when you see the end of a rope, you think that it must have been the wrong rope, because it couldn't last. Or that maybe that rope was for somebody else, not for you. Instead, take that rope, use it to get somewhere new, then look for the next one.

Following Jesus is often described as finding hope. Often times that causes confusion. If Jesus is one of these ropes, what happens when it ends? Does Jesus have limits? Does he change direction? For me, Jesus is the rope layer. He has traveled this path before me, knows where the difficult spots are and provides a way to help me through. I know that the next rope is just around the bend, even if I can't see it, because I know the one who sets the ropes in place, who made the path just for me. That's hope.