Even with the Power of Hope, it takes strength to accept Mercy. Imagine Sorrow as an empty, endless hole that we stare into: after a while, it is all we can see. We become fixated on the hole: and our psyche is pulled into the vortex. People, and influencers (like the ones in the previous post), can be available to re-energize our hope. But without the courage to look up from that vortex, we cannot see the hand of mercy. The hand of mercy can be extended, yet it is up to each to grab hold. If we do grab hold, it will require a conscious effort to recognize what a heavy burden our sorrow has been to carry. Once we recognize it as a burden, we must decide if we will lay it down. It is difficult to run the good race with heavy rocks in our arms. We become so accustomed to carrying those rocks that we have no idea how good it feels to be without them. That good feeling might seem like a chaotic, manic high: or just a false sense of hope. For a long while, we dread the reduced weight because that shoe will always there, waiting to drop. It becomes easier to regret everything and go for what is more comfortable. Yet, because we have experienced mercy, we are no longer staring into that black hole. And we are no longer comfortable. Change is an unnerving process. We change because we come to recognize what those heavy rocks have stood for: our trauma, pain, disappointment. We can feel shameful for allowing those things to have happened to us. We can be ashamed that we did, or did not do, something to prevent them. Evil knows we will confront being ashamed: whether or not the shame is validated. Evil hasn't helped make our world an easy place to survive. It will expect us to give up, lash out, spit on others, become violent: most of all, it expects us to lose our Power of Hope.
