Hope beyond the overwhelm

Life in the overwhelm takes us from the relative comfort we may have had to fear to questioning the meaning of life to questioning our existence.  It is fathoms below, and infinitely harder than, any pain we’d previously conceived.

When we endure loss and we are tipped into grief, overwhelm threatens every moment.  Even when we’re gifted a presence of momentary peace, we know that the overwhelm, the dread, beckons at the door — we wonder when our peace will be vanquished.  That terrifying reality is an ever present threat.

‘FAITH TO OVERCOME’

Some people have faith to overcome and it comes naturally to them.  For others — especially those who are more realistic than idealistic — faith to overcome comes much less naturally.

Let me explain that ‘faith to overcome’ is not inherently about religious faith — where your faith might be in God, for instance.  For me, faith to overcome is much more visceral than religious faith, but it is also the basis of authentic religious faith. 

It’s a faith that trusts that good is coming. 

Faith to overcome is
born of and is underpinned
by a hope that insists good is coming. 

Faith to overcome is
impossible to stifle.
It holds the overwhelm amid the promise
of something good coming from it. 

This faith to overcome somehow helps in the pain of the overwhelm because it hopes for something better on the horizon.  Ultimately this faith to overcome cannot be defeated because the hope underpinning it refuses to be despaired.  Eventually, all good hopes are vindicated.  Good does come eventually.

Sure, there are times when we do despair: 

… times that are, “far beyond our ability to endure,
so that we despaired of life itself.”
— 2 Corinthians 1:8

But even in such places of spirit, there is the intractable presence of hope beyond the overwhelm if only we cling to the fact that good is coming.  And good WILL come. 

While we’re on this sojourn of pain in the overwhelm and dread, we can enrol in the truth that enduring this harsh season will pay handsome dividends when it is over.

Life experience is the school of hard knocks. 
Such wisdom is hard-won. 
Once won is cannot be lost.

If we talk about peace, we can see that once we’ve experienced this travail, the premium for peace is a bounty worth paying the service of our lives for.  And peace becomes our soul’s aim and hence wisdom is our driver. 

This is what life experience teaches us, through the pain of tumult: 

Peace is worth the struggle to attain it.
Peace is a goodness that indwells hope and joy.
Suffering teaches us that peace is THE prize of life.

Hope beyond the overwhelm is something that refuses to let go of the concept that good is coming.  It keeps hope alive, and it certainly can keep us alive. 

The concept of an horizon is crucial on the cruel path of life.  The horizon never arrives but if there is goodness there, it fuels hope and the faith to overcome.