Bob Hamp

” I have just learned that this is something I will have to deal with the rest of my life…the good news is, I am learning how to cope with it.”

I have heard this statement, and variations of it for years.  I always have a visceral reaction to this thought.  On one hand, the person usually speaks with a certain amount of relief.  At least  the monster has been named, and they are learning how to tame it.  At the same time I hear the disappointment, the surrender, as they finally give in to “inevitable fate”.  This, they have resolved, is my cross to bear.  It is easier to give up, than to fight and be disappointed one more time.  The struggle comes to an end, but it ends by putting hope to death. 

Is it fair for me to try to inject hope back into this “relief”? With hope the struggle returns, but without it….what is left.

For years we have received the Message of Christianity as tasks and stances we must achieve and maintain.  Be good, try hard, restrain your urges, and believe.  As if “believe” is something we must manufacture against all odds.  Real faith doesn’t come from us…it comes from hearing HIm.  Stop and listen.  It is so sad, that somehow out of Jesus’ words and life, we have once again shouldered the very yoke He came to remove. 

A yoke from Nazareth

A disease, a habit, a mindset, or any other struggle…these are the chains He came to remove.  He, Immanuel, God, The God, continually in the midst of us, reaches out to change something we perceive as unchangeable.  We look back and with our best understanding we say, “I have learned that this is something I will have to live with the rest of my life, the good new is, I am learning to cope with it…”

Jesus forgives, but forgiveness is just the entrance.  It is the open door that allows us to interact freely with the Divine Nature.  Through that open door, He now hands us the key…He makes us new.  He may or may not change our circumstances immediately, but in the worst of outward experiences, He renews our inward self.  This is revolutionary.  It means that no outward circumstance can hold us in bondage, because we can be free to connect and respond to the inward reality of the Ultimate Creator in us!

Desparately wanting to respect the real struggle of the human race, and the courage and nobility with which men and women face their foes, I still want to stand and declare:  Do Not Cope with what you can Be Free From.  Hope Again.  Jesus changed the game when introduced the power of God again into the human realm.  He may not interven the way you expect, or when you would like, but He spent His whole Life so you could be free!! Not relieved; Free.  Look again, ask Him to help you Think Differently.

Photos by Jillian Hamp