Hope is like Vitamin C. This is my attention-grabbing opening line for this week’s article. Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid) is a very familiar substance. My recent research has shown me why it has so much importance and why it’s like HOPE. Humans don’t make their own Vitamin C. Interestingly, some apes and guinea pigs don’t make it either! Humans can store about 30 days supply. To maintain this supply, we need about an orange worth of Vitamin C per day, 60mg. Without Vitamin C our bodies have poor immunity and cannot maintain our connective tissue, so we can’t defend ourselves and we literally start to fall apart, this condition is called Scurvy.
So why is Vitamin C like Hope? To set the scene for this thought, HOPE has featured in the Year 12 Christian Education session I am running this term. We ask the question, “If God is real why is there pain and suffering?”. In this session, we look at how all people, of differing world views, manage the challenge of suffering. Everyone experiences some level of pain and suffering. We all know HOPE becomes the central feature of finding a way through. If there is no hope, then there is no point to enduring the overwhelming challenges that come in life. The challenge is that humans find it hard to generate our own hope if it doesn’t come from outside of us. If there is no purpose to life, nothing above or beyond or lives, hope runs out quickly. Everyone, whether a person of faith or not, can find hope running out, I know I have at times.
Just like Vitamin C, we need a regular supply of HOPE to hold it all together. To finish please consider these two things. One, continue to eat your oranges, particularly in this season, and two, enjoy putting your trust in the God of Hope. If you need help with your Hope please let someone know.
Romans 15:13 “May the God of hope fill you with joy and peace as you put your trust in Him.”
Peter Chase
College Chaplain • Pastoral Care
