No Charms ... No Jinxes

I continue to hear echoes of Lane Denson's "Thomas" piece rattling around in my head and heart. I wrote about it the other day. Isn't it funny how, when you start focusing on an issue or theme, many other voices and themes seem to come to bear on it?

That was the case when I read this piece, Barbara Crafton's "She Who Believed" – which seemed to add another dimension.

But here is the truth: just as there are no charms, there are no jinxes. Neither hope nor despair makes things happen by magic. What they do is change us. Hope itself comforts and strengthens, right in the moment of hoping, whether or not what I long for ever comes to pass. And despair only ensures that I will experience every bad thing twice – once before it arrives and then again when it's here. Sorrow and disappointment will come to all of us on their own – we won't need to decide in favor of it. It costs us no more to allow ourselves to dream the reality God promises, and it makes us glad, right then and there.

There are no charms, there are no jinxes. What powerful words!

But the faith and hope we have in God … that may enable us to rise above charms and jinxes, beyond sorrow and disappointment. May it be so!