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How would one depict hope? What would that look like? “Hope” is the title of this painting by George Frederic Watts, an English Victorian painter and sculptor associated with the Symbolist movement. He became famous for his allegorical works such as this, saying, “I paint ideas, not things.” Hope here is blindfolded, attempting to play a lyre that has broken strings. Critics argued that “Despair” would be a more appropriate title. But Watts explained that “Hope need not mean expectancy. It suggests here rather the music which can come from the remaining chord.”
Hebrews 6:9 speaks of hope: “We have this hope as an anchor for our lives, safe and secure.” I don’t know about you, but often life doesn’t feel safe and secure. We sit at deathbeds of our loved ones. We deal with diagnosis that leave uncertain futures. We watch as the world seems to spin out of control. Hard stuff.
It feels like hope is trying to play on broken strings.
Dr. David Lose, pastor at Mt. Olivet Church in Minneapolis, says this of hope: “What we see is not all there is, and no matter what may come, God will have the last word, and it will be a good word. The promise of God to bring all things to a good end invites us to live today, even in the most difficult of circumstances, with hope.” It goes deeper than just being optimistic or having a Pollyanna view of life. “Optimism,” Lose says, “assumes things will soon get better. Hope testifies that whether things get better or worse, ultimately God’s goodwill for us and all creation will prevail.”
Jesuit priest James Martin reminds us that God has promised that, in the end, all will be well and if all is not well, then it isn’t the end. That gives me hope.
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