This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Saturday Morning Session of the October 2008 Conference.
None of the passages I liked this week seem like they teach anything revolutionary. But as always, my experiences at this season of life make them seem more meaningful to me than they used to. I've had two friends with heart-wrenching circumstances this week, one enduring the sudden loss of her husband and another experiencing a church membership council. My heart has ached for both of them in their particular challenges. At the same time, I have rejoiced in the way "looking unto Christ in every thought" can make every difficulty more bearable. As I've imagined what sorts of fears and doubts might be going through my friends' minds, there is literally not a single one of them that isn't improved and lightened by the reality of Jesus' sacrifice for us. His mercy with our faults, His understanding of our circumstances, His victory over sin and death, His ability to heal us, His power to send angels to our aid. I'm so grateful that, though what I can do for my friends is so small, what Jesus can do is so great!
With those thoughts in my head, Elder Uchtdorf's words about hope become even more beautiful:
Hope is a gift of the Spirit. It is a hope that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the power of His Resurrection, we shall be raised unto life eternal and this because of our faith in the Savior. This kind of hope is both a principle of promise as well as a commandment, and, as with all commandments, we have the responsibility to make it an active part of our lives and overcome the temptation to lose hope. Hope in our Heavenly Father’s merciful plan of happiness leads to peace, mercy, rejoicing, and gladness.…There may be times when we must make a courageous decision to hope even when everything around us contradicts this hope.
I love that idea—that when we "against hope believe in hope," we are being not naive, but courageous! It's so easy for me, when I'm facing something hard and discouraging, to feel foolish about my former hopes. I think, "I should have known it wouldn't be so simple. How could I have gotten my hopes up like that? How could I have been so dumb as to think things were getting better/working out/going to be okay?" It's so easy to let go of hope. I don't know why disappointed hopes are always accompanied by that "I'm so dumb for believing" feeling. I'm sure that's Satan trying to take away our hopes.
Anyway, but it's a lie! Elder Uchtdorf says hope is a "courageous decision" and I'm going to try to see it that way from now on. It's not "refusing to face reality"; it's having the vision to see a truer reality! The joyful reality of Jesus Christ overshadows any other despair that seems so real to us in the moment. And I want to share that hope with the people around me if I can. I want to let my mind "catch hold upon this thought of Jesus Christ" (as Elder Andersen talks about) and allow that thought to give me, and those around me, that "infinite power of hope" Elder Uchtdorf promises.
No comments