This week we get a lovely and affirming letter from Paul to the community in Thessalonica. You've probably read this line before, “We give thanks to God always for all of you.” What he remembers them for is their “work of faith and labor of love and endurance in hope.” What captures my attention is not his gratitude for this community, but his words “endurance in hope.” What does that mean? And I think I'm asking because I want that.

Out of curiosity, I consulted another translation, the New International Version, and that says, “endurance inspired by hope.” What that says to me is that, because of one's hope, one is able to endure hard things, to persevere in the face of difficulty, to push on. So, hope is the foundation of what can keep me going. And, honestly, that sounds great. Life does keep kicking up hard things, and it’s good if our hope can inspire us to keep on keeping on. However, what if your hope snuffs out a bit, or even just flickers? What if you want to find inspiration in hope but sometimes you can’t find hope?

I know a couple of people who seem to have unshakable hope, that even when bad things happen, they see the possibility for good. Honestly, that feels more like optimism to me, but maybe that’s a judgement, and their hope is genuine. Good for them. That is not me. I’m a glass-half-full kind of person most of the time, but even so, there are times when I don’t feel a sense of hope. I’m thinking of moments during the pandemic when I felt like life had lost its purpose, when I thought I, and we, would never recover. There was also a period in my young adult years when I gave myself over to despair. Luckily, I’m also pretty driven, so I pushed on, and from the outside, I looked like I was successful, happy, and living my best life. But that was not inspired by hope. That drive was motivated by perfectionism and fear. Somehow (likely because of God), I found my hope again, but how exactly? And how do I, and we, find it when hope doesn’t seem present?

Another way I read “endurance in hope” is to see it as enduring in hope itself or having the kind of hope that endures. It’s not just persevering in life because of hope but persevering in hope which then helps us to persevere in life. I feel like that’s what I want right now. No matter what, I likely will endure most things because of sheer determination or stubbornness, but I want my sense of hope to endure with me. How do I do that? How do I find the hope that endures so that I can endure when things get hard?

I’ve reflected on hope before – it’s amazing how things all come back around again – and, looking back at those reflections, I see a quote from Brené Brown’s book Atlas of the Heart. It’s so good that it bears repeating. She writes, “Hope is a function of struggle – we develop hope not during the easy times but through adversity and discomfort” (100). So, it’s not necessarily our hope that produces endurance, and it’s not about searching for a hope that endures. It’s the other way around. It’s our endurance that gives us hope. Our perseverance through times of struggle and the ways in which we respond to life’s challenges increases our hope. Hope that grows also endures.

The only way out is through, it seems, and I don’t love that. I’d rather find the answer to cultivating a pretty flame of hope that keeps on shining so that when things get hard, things actually seem easy. Apparently, that’s not how it works. Of course, it’s not. When Jesus told us to pick up our crosses, he wasn’t kidding. He was speaking to the truth of life’s inevitable suffering, and he was also affirming his love and presence with us in our struggles.

I wish I could offer a clickbait-y headline to help us all with hope, something like: How to Endure in Hope in Five Easy Steps, but I think we all know that’s hooey. However, there are a couple of things that help me to endure, and in enduring, to find hope. They’re not easy fixes, though, and maybe I’m sharing them so that I too can remember to do them when things get hard (and maybe even when things aren’t hard).

Regular prayer and even mindfulness practices can help. Prayer brings me into deeper relationship with God. Sharing my feelings with God helps me to cope with my emotions too, especially the hard ones. It also shifts my perspective, giving me a broader view than the myopic one that comes with hopelessness. Mindfulness brings me into the present moment, even if that only comes in little flickers of awareness. Hope tends to be in the present moment. Sometimes when I’m feeling despair, it’s because I’ve projected myself into an unknown future, and swimming in that kind of uncertainty can douse the flame of hope. Or, I’m ruminating on stuff that happened in the past, stuff over which I have no control now, and that diminishes hope too. Staying present helps me to practice hope. It can be hard, though, and I can’t really do it by myself.

Which brings me to community. I know I say it a lot, but it’s so dang true. We need community. Very few people are called to be hermits. I’m not super good at leaning on community when I’m in need, but when I do, I see again how essential it is. This summer I had an experience of that. A group of us were in France at an international assembly of our sisters. We had been talking all day about things in the future, and I was feeling the worry of it all. I was sitting in the chapel next to one of my sisters from the U.S., and I whispered something about my worries, and she put her hand on me and whispered back, “You need to just stay present.” That was exactly what I needed, and when she said that to me, she brought me into the present moment. I need to be reminded of the things I think I know, because “knowing” is really a relearning over and over again. I cannot self-generate hope. I need my community to remind me, to teach me, to inspire me with hope. And they do. It’s a helpful practice to pause and be intentionally grateful for community. “I give thanks always for all of you.” Doing so brightens my hope.

So, endurance strengthens our hope, and maybe hope helps us to endure too. Prayer helps. Community helps. Ultimately, though, God is the source of our hope. Hope is a gift that God extends when God helps us through our struggles. It’s a virtue. It’s a practice. The more we lean into God, the more we can lean into our hope, and the more our hope endures.

For reflection:

• How about you? How and where are you finding hope these days?

• Have you ever had an experience of hopelessness or despair? How did you deal with it?

• How do you tend to endure hard things? Do you push on through, do you lean on hope, do you find support from other people? And where is God in it all?

By Sister Leslie Keener, CDP

Sister Leslie Keener, CDP is the director of God Space, a community-building spirituality ministry in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. She’s a Sister of Divine Providence with a Masters in Ministry and a Certificate in Spiritual Direction and Retreats from Creighton University. She directs retreats, meets with people for spiritual direction, and serves as the vocation director for her community. She also serves on the Board of Spiritual Directors International and the Board of Thomas More University. She enjoys music, dancing, and meaningful conversations.