"The Substance of Things Hoped For"

I heard a priest say once that "faith is the substance of things hoped for."  It struck me as almost lyrical: a poem in the midst of prose.  I was smitten.  I liked the line so much that I did something I never do in church, and in fact is something that usually shocks and offends me when I see others do it (remember how I said I'm trying not to judge? Yeah...It's a work in progress.).  I pulled out my phone in the middle of the sermon and opened up to a "NEW TEXT MESSAGE" page.  Now, I did this to send myself a text of that pretty little quote so I could use it in a story later.  Maybe it could be a character's quote, maybe a theme.  Who knew?  I liked it, and I am always on the lookout for story fodder.

I've thought about that line a lot, turning it over in my mind, whispering it to myself.  I've even meditated on it a bit.  I have never quite found the right place for it, though, and so it remains repeating its gentle rhythm in my mind. 

My mom and I were talking recently and she said something along the lines of, "I just keep hoping."  I made the pretty natural response of, "That's all we can do."  And I was immediately struck with the thought of living a life of hope.  What does that even look like?  Is it a good thing or a bad thing?  Is it positive, always being hopeful, or terribly sad that you are always hoping and never achieving?

And what, if it comes down to it, does that phrase truly mean?  "The substance of things hoped for." 

Merriam-Webster offers the following definition for substance:

             1: essential nature : essence

             2: ultimate reality that underlies all outward manifestations and change

             3: physical material from which something is made or which has discrete existence

      

Substance, it would seem, is a foundation.  Substance is the inside of something - substance is what "makes up" an object.  So if faith is the substance of things hoped for, it must follow that faith is the foundation of our hopes.  Faith is the stool we stand on when we are aiming for something beyond our reach.  So often we want something - whether it's physical or spiritual, material or ethereal - and we can't quite get it.  We have to wait.  We have to have faith that it will work out however it needs to. 

This is something that I am still working on.  Because having faith that things will work out usually means trusting that it will work out - which in my case tends to mean letting go of control.  As my dad said to me today, "You need to trust that God has everything in control."  And this is a hard lesson for me.  But somehow, thinking of trust as faith, and faith as a stool or a building block, I find myself able to relax a bit.  It's almost as if the beauty of the phrase allows me to close my eyes for just a moment and breathe deeply.  It allows me to feel secure on a strong foundation, if only briefly.

So, I sit here typing a message to myself and hoping I can draw encouragement from the phrase I have come to love so dearly.  "Faith is the substance of things hoped for."  I think a life of hope isn't such a bad thing, as long as we stand on a foundation of faith.  Faith in God, faith in ourselves, faith in those around us. 

I hope you can draw some encouragement, too.  Take a moment to close your eyes and take a deep breath. 

Lots of love,



Psalm 33:22