Our family is going through a crisis with our middle child right now: issues with depression and its repercussions. I believe he’s going to be okay. He’s got a good doctor and is in fairly intensive counseling, and he is now motivated as well to participate in the process. I am reminded that the Koine Greek word for crisis literally means reordering. That sounds hopeful to me. When in crisis our first tendency is to despair, but if crisis is a reordering then there is room for new life, a rebirth. The pains of crisis are the pangs of birth. Being made in God’s image means we are made to rejuvenate, to heal. That we along with the created order itself are moving towards wholeness, but at times it can be a most difficult journey, and sometimes a long one.
The early Christian communities under occupation of the Roman Empire considered hope a central tenet of the faith. Paul speaks eloquently of hope in Christ. These communities considered hope to be, as it were, an artifact from the future, setting its roots in the present day; a present and tangible reality of a promise come quite near; hope for a life of well being and dignity; hope for a life of true freedom. We carry as people of God the same hope for ourselves, our families, our neighbors and our world, but such wholeness does not come about except through crisis, reordering. St. John of the Cross called such reordering, “the dark night of the soul.”
All of us have or will experience the dark night of the soul; we are made that way. It’s the way we grow. But take heart; know that the light has overcome the darkness. So in the midst of our reorderings, and some take longer than others, the pains that we bear are the rigors of transformation and new birth. And that is something to hope for indeed.
Praying for your whole family! We have all been through crises. Your honesty will encourage others to ask for help! Love ya’ll.
Amazing and inspiring words, dear Jim. Thank you for sharing and prayers are with you all, always. Kathrine, Warren, Parker and Danner.