http://www.oldpaths.com/Archive/Cobble/Sandra/Fontaine/1933/hope.html
Hope
Born in 1933, raised in the ghetto of Los Angeles (Watts), the victim of
psychological child abuse, in an orphanage nearly a year, in numerous foster
homes, a failure in high school, and without any hope whatsoever for the future,
yet this week I am graduating from Motlow State Community College with honors.
Was I afraid to return to school after having been out nearly thirty-two
years? I was not just afraid; I was terrified! I was afraid the instructors
would embarrass me in front of the class. I was afraid I would not know how to
write an essay. And I was afraid of examinations.
Was college like I thought it might be? NO! No instructor purposely
embarrassed any student. There was a writing lab with an instructor who
patiently helped me write my first few essays. The examinations were not nearly
as hard as I had imagined them to be. I found the instructors to be warm, caring
human beings who wanted their students -- wanted me -- to be successful.
What is ahead? Hope! I have been accepted as a student at David Lipscomb
College. I am hoping to eventually obtain a doctorate in language and
linguistics. Although I am in my fifties, I am looking forward to a career in
adult education. What is ahead? A chance to make a worthwhile contribution to
society. A chance to help others as someone has helped me.
"Sure", you may say, "Anyone can hope when all is going well. But MY world
has fallen apart. All I feel is despair." A few days after the foregoing was
written as a basis of a speech to a group of older students about to enter
college, my world fell apart. A drunken driver rammed the back of my motor
scooter, throwing me to the pavement. The accident left me permanently paralyzed
from the chest down. A resulting heart problem left me unable to regain full
strength. And a skull fracture resulted in the inability to remember in some
areas of thought. Can any hope still remain? "And now abide faith, hope, love,
these three; but the greatest of these is love" ( 1 Cor. 13:13 NKJV).
Yes! According to Bauer's Greek-English Lexicon the word for "hope" -- elpis, may be defined as "expectation". We recognize that hope actually has two elements -- expectation and desire. Do I still have the expectation of a career in adult education? No. But a career was not an end in itself. Rather, it was a means to an end -- to glorify God. To glorify God by making a worthwhile contribution to society. To glorify God by helping others as someone has helped me. And these things I can still do. For I can still smile. I can still listen. I can still encourage others. And I can do these things in such a way as to glorify God. Yes, hope can and does remain!
Sandra F. Cobble
(http://www.oldpaths.com)
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