Good morning…
“We are coming off a whirlwind graduation weekend at UNC,” texted a longtime friend earlier this week. “Bryan Stevenson was the keynote speaker, who was EXCELLENT! Given your recent experience with the museum in Montgomery, Alabama which he helped to start, I wanted to forward you his quote.”
Your hope is your superpower.
Believe things you haven’t seen.
Believe you can do things you have never done before…
Some of you are going to have to stand up when people say, ‘sit down.’
Some of you are going to have to speak when others say, ‘be quiet.’
But don’t resist the obligation to stay hopeful.
– Bryan Stevenson, spring commencement speaker
“I love the thought of hope being our superpower,” concluded my friend. “It truly is.”
Now in the middle of the night, I revisit the Soul Collage Cards I created to help keep my own hope alive after visiting the life-changing Montgomery museum. I witnessed the ugly, bitter roots of racism which are chronicled vividly and experientially, generation after generation. Processing myself through these cards, might I fulfill my obligation to stay hopeful?
We each have a choice to make as we process the past and live into the future. Will we stay buttoned up and well quaffed, crossing our arms and looking away from the pain of others? Or will we stand when others say “sit down” and speak out when others say “be quiet”?
Looking closely at the bottom left card, I see a college graduate. She looks as exuberant as my friend’s daughter who was caught celebrating on the big jumbrotron screen. Both young women are choosing to stand up and speak out, filled with the superpower of hope. Might we also graduate into the sustaining power of hope?
Jesus leads us into a place of radical grace where we are able to celebrate the hope of experiencing God’s glory. And that’s not all. We also celebrate in seasons of suffering because we know that when we suffer we develop endurance, which shapes our characters. When our characters are refined, we learn what it means to hope and anticipate God’s goodness (Romans 5:2-4, VOICE).
In a world filled with suffering, let’s not resist our obligation to stay hopeful. We are being led into a place of God’s radical grace and goodness.
In what tangible ways might we each activate our superpower of hope today?
…Sue…
