Hope When You’re Broke

Few life circumstances cripple our hope more than the capitulation of our finances; the loss of good paying work, uncertainty, reliance on piecework, and much debt. All these and more will get us down, and down we might stay, except for a vibrant hope that sits somewhere amongst the truth.

And that’s where the key difference lies between hopelessness and hope: the truth that fuels genuine belief.

So, how do we find hope within the available truth that amounts to our financial lives?

Servicing The Practical Need

Purpose-driven parents have one aim when their families are materially destitute: to feed, clothe, and educate their children; to indwell within them reason for hope. Despair will not define them.

Life becomes simple in circumstances of sheer need. It’s unfortunate that simplicity is normally a good thing. Yet, in these circumstances we’d like to afford a little more than frank simplicity; still, we’ll take it—there are those worse off!

Servicing the practical need is done on a day-by-day basis; and, though such a living situation increases our faith we would prefer any other challenge, besides the loss of health or, worse, loved ones.

Recalling The Blessedness Of Tight Circumstances

One thing the materially well-off don’t have is the blessedness of tight circumstances—the appreciation of simple things because everything of material worth is scarce.

Scarcity is an eternal value that speaks into our hearts. When things are no longer scarce all of life becomes comfortable and, ironically, our happiness ebbs away.

Though times might be tight, very few people, if any, certainly in the Western world, have starved to death; unlike those plagued by famine in East Africa.

Hopefulness is generally borne on a low tide where life might only be seen for the improving. When situations are truly dire, the spirit within, if it can smile, is somehow fortified and made stronger. Hope in the midst of hopelessness is actually more prevalent than it is when we have nothing to want for. And there, too, is God.

When life gets tough we discover who our friends are; the family members with love in our hearts come, where they can, to see if they can help—not to rescue, for our dignity is important to them.

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Having hope when we’re broke is the incredible testimony of faith; to understand the complexity of dire straits, yet still do whatever can be done to make the best of life without. Believing we will not only get through but also grow is faith enough to get through today—and today is all anyone has.

© 2012 S. J. Wickham.