Infinite Hope

We must accept finite disappointment,

but never lose infinite hope.

                                                  –Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

My grandson clutches the latest Christmas catalogue to his body and when asked, identifies each and every item in it as something he wants, needs, fervently desires . . . even the things for girls . . . yes, I want that too . . . only for boys, is his stock response to his challengers.

The temptation during this time of year can be to chastize, to bemoan the crass materialism that makes even little children’s reach exceed their grasp, but I’m changing my tune on this one.

It is the job of children to have  reaches that exceed their grasp, for their desires to be bigger than their own abilities to achieve those desires.

And yes, it is often the job of the grown-ups in the room to act as the wise corrective, bringing back, reining in, that childish desire to something reasonable.

But it is also the job of the grown-ups in the room to accede to those desires . . . to give as well as to give in . . . to recognize and respond to the infinite hope that resides in every child.

Hope is a funny thing . . . mostly, those who need it the most have it the most. . . or so it seems to me.

But there are those who didn’t get their hope quotient. . . those whose catalogues of dreams got lost in the mail . . . those for whom the infinity of hope has been obscured by the finitude of disappointment.

For those you know who are in need of some infinite hope today . . . may your prayers for them be converted by God’s own Spirit into whispers of hope into their hearts.

May they, may you, be reminded of the possibilities of an infinite hope.