Amid making New Year’s resolutions, people also often choose a “word” to guide them through the next twelve months. The years my father and mother died, I began to choose a word to ease my grief.
That first word was “joy.” Joy reminded me to embrace my life ahead without the only people who still shared my childhood memories. Eventually, I did feel joy and could remember the past with gratitude.
During the political upheaval beginning in 2016, I began searching for an added word to guide me. My word was “peace.” In those tumultuous years, I sought and tried to practice peace through Bible study, singing, and observing nature. Finding peace was a process of reluctant effort. I also found peace in the adage, “This too shall pass.” The chaos in our society has only increased, and we seem divided in purpose and policy. So this year I am embracing the word “hope.”
American nineteenthcentury poet Emily Dickinson wrote “‘Hope is the thing with feathers/That perches in the soul/And sings the tune without the words/And never stops -at all‘“ (Emily Dickinson, “Hope Is the Thing with Feathers, http://www.poetryfoundation. org ).
I see songbirds as tender, tiny creatures that sing in sunshine and storm. I share Dickinson’s simile of a bird’s representing hope.
When considered, hope only becomes valuable in hopeless situations. When the land is at peace; when one can live without fear; when one can have good health; when one has shelter and food; and when one has equal opportunities for an education and a job, hope seems not so necessary.
The possibility of hope is a foundation to many religions. To Christians, hope comes through our belief that a good and great God will give strength and comfort to believers in daily struggles as well as in horrific situations.
The apostle Peter wrote, “Blessed be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again in a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, I Peter 1:3 (The Bible Study Tools Staff, “Hope Bible Verses,” 4/04/2024, http://www. biblestudytools.com ).
The apostle Paul in his epistle to the church in Rome admonished, “May the God of Hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope,” Romans 15:13 (http://www. biblestudytools,com ).
Members of the Jewish faith have long relied on the hope revealed through Yahweh in the Old Testament. The prophet Jeremiah urged the Israelites to have hope despite their great desolation: “‘For I know the plans I have for you,‘ declares the Lord. ‘Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future,’” Jeremiah 29:11 (http://www.biblystudytools. com ).
Another major prophet, Isaiah, encouraged his people: “But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will run and not grow faint,” Isaiah 40:31 (http:///www.biblestudytools. com).
The scriptures from Islam’s Quran also speak of hope for believers: “So truly where there is hardship there is ease,” Quran 94:5 (Lily Syaharah, “Inspirational Quaranic Verses—Finding Hope and Purpose in Life” http://www. simplyislam.academy).
Also from the Quran: “And will provide for them from an unexpected source; God will be enough for those who put their trust in Him. God achieves His purposes; God has set a due measure for everything” http://www.simplyislam. academy ).
Do atheists and agnostics have hope in life’s desperate situations? Jerry Coyne, author of Faith vs. Fact: Why Science and Religion Are Incompatible, explains, “The way I find meaning is the way most people find meaning, even religious ones, which is to get pleasure and significance from your job, your loved ones, from your vocation, art, literature, music….” (Tom Cheever, “I Asked Atheists How They Find Meaning in a Purposeless Universe,” http://www.buzzfeed.com ).
Why did I need a “good word” for the 2025 year ahead? Our current political and societal chaos shakes my hope for the future of our democracy and especially for our most vulnerable Americans. The GOP, the Heritage Foundation, and the far-right MAGA factions have crafted Project 2025, allegedly for Trump’s administration.
This agenda strikes at a quality education and our well-being and health. The proposed elimination of the Department of Education would destroy Title I classes and erase 72,000 teacher jobs from these classrooms. It would erase opportunities for our most disadvantaged children. Ending English acquisition classes would halt learning for 5.5 million English learners (http://democratsappropriations. house.gov). How many European immigrants arrived speaking the King’s English?
Federal Work Study programs would be cut by half (http://www.democrats-appropriations. house.gov ). Federal Work Study programs, government grants, federal loans, and scholarships allowed me to attend college and to graduate with a triple major in English, education, and speech communication. Although my parents each worked at two jobs, they could not afford to pay my tuition, board, and books. The result of this government assistance? For over twenty years, I taught secondary English and journalism.
The student loan forgiveness program would be rescinded. Job training and work force development programs would be eliminated or drastically reduced in funding (http://www.democratsappropriations, house.gov ).
These measures would all affect education in this country. It is dangerous to have an uneducated citizenry and an untrained work force.
Project 2025 would also cut funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention department’s research in such areas as gun violence prevention, opioid death prevention, and suicide prevention, and would limit environmental and health programs (http://www.democrats-appropriations. house.gov).
These proposed measures are only a sampling of the potential dangers ahead in other facets of our lives. National and state governments are already passing laws that adversely affect the working poor, the elderly, the homeless, the uninsured, and children at all socio-economic levels.
I anticipate more banning of literature, distorting of history, controlling of news media, and denying of civil rights to minorities. I question the future of our national place in the world, which seems to teeter between isolationism and greedy expansion. The ludicrous idea to “capture” Greenland and the Panama Canal may not seem so impossible to the “powers that be.”
Hope. Hope in my Christian faith in a good and a great God does lessen my fear for our future. Helping as best I can anyone who will be hungry, lonely, feeble, sick, and abandoned will be my way of sharing hope.
What is your “good word” for 2025? Joy? Peace? Hope?
Or you may see the need to embrace help, to encourage, or to comfort. Whatever word you choose, please consider how you may help our fellow Americans in the uncertain years ahead. There will be many needs.