A Sign of Hope

The Wolf Man. A man bitten by a wolf. Now, when there is a full moon, the man turns into a wolf. His curse?

Here is a man dreading the brightness of the full moon. The sight does something that transforms him into a monstrous beast. When he awakens in the morning, he does not know what he did during the night. So, when he knows the moon will be full, he begs anyone to chain him to a heavy piece of furniture, lock the doors, and cover the windows, whatever can be done so he does not see the moon. Inevitably, he gets loose and seeks his prey.

Lon Chaney, Jr. portrays the character perfectly, of course. He has a pure innocence about him. He seems ever so humble and just wants freedom from the curse. However, the struggle within is real. He just wants to be free from the struggle.

What can we learn from the Wolf Man?

Sometimes we find ourselves in situations in which we respond in a way that is totally unlike us. We’re in the middle of a conversation and just snap at the person. The other person, who thankfully knows us quite well, is startled. “Are you okay?” “What’s going on?” One can have an internal struggle we just don’t realize.

This quote says it so well. We experience life differently. We struggle differently. Yet, we are there to help one another, to be gentle. We don’t know what someone is experiencing. They may choose not to voice it because they feel alone.

The last phrase gets me. “Instead of being the last straw, you can be their first sign of hope.” What if we encountered someone who was in such despair, they just needed to hear or see hope? Recently, I heard a story about a woman who was praying for an opportunity to help someone. Within minutes, she saw a young lady running toward her with tears streaming down her face. After speaking and crying for a while, the woman was able to speak life to the young lady. Later, the woman asked the young lady why she ran toward her crying. The young lady responded she felt hope. (Lundqvist, 2020.) The woman displayed hope–wow, what a challenge!

Our Connections Challenge: We pass people every day who are experiencing despair and feel hopeless. You may not see it on their face, they may cover it. Our challenge today, do you radiate hope? Take time to share a smile or say an encouraging word to the person who seems discouraged. Be bold and ask if you could sit with someone who is eating alone. As the quote says, “you could be their first sign of hope.”

Story taken from Joakim Lundqvist. Make miracles happen – 21st century temples: part 2. Life Church. October 2020. https://m.youtube.com/watch?list=PLXvTERtQ_HV-KzmsTW9qUMF9s_FvVGYFX&v=8YWOgK3Laa0.