By Melba Lurena Eldridge-Lewis
Bowie, Maryland

It is the end of a long workday and closing time at the correctional center in Laurel, Maryland.  A very thin woman with grey hair lets out a sigh of relief" "Ahh!" Tired but content, the dental assistant collects the remaining equipment used that day and heads toward the laboratory where the sterilization unit is located.  Little does she know that in the next five terrifying minutes, her life will change forever.

Suddenly from behind a corner and seemingly out of nowhere, the assistant is struck by a strong hand with a quick blow to the chest.  Instruments drop, a glass beaker shatters, chemical solutions splatter against the walls and door, and a scalpels scatter across the floor.

The woman's gasps and screams for help resonate through the correctional center as she manages to kick and push her intruder off.  Security guards run toward the sound of screaming to the locked, olive green metal door where they can see  through a small 8 x 9" transparent window.  Inside a disrobed inmate slowly approaches the assistant, obviously intent on doing her bodily harm.  From the enraged look on the inmate's face and his red glazed eyes, it appears drugs have agitated this situation.

The woman realizes at this point that she will not be able to talk her way out of this.  Becoming physically combative may be the only way to save her life.  Is it her imagination or does she hear a ray of hope?  It sounds as if keys are jiggling, voices shouting, alarms going off, and security dogs barking!

"Open the door!" shouts one of the officers.

"Get the key---hurry up! Find it!" shouts the other guard.

It seems like a year has passes as the officer searches for the one particular key to this door on a ring with a thousand other choices.

The woman's pulse rate quickens and her adrenal glands are stimulated to peak capacity.  Her mind is racing.

Backed into a corner with the time running out, the situation starts to look hopeless.  Now the inmate grabs her by the neck, trying to shut out the screams.  Whispers of anguish wheeze through the walls of the assistant's torn esophagus.  She realizes life is seeping from her body, her life quickly dwindling.  Unable to speak, she clings to one thin thread of HOPE in those last climatic minutes--hope that the Lord's grace is sufficient for each day, each hour, and now this moment.

Does the woman feel confident that the guards will find the right key?  Does she really believe the security officers can help her in time?  Does she still have hope?  Where has her hope gone now?  When did it leave her?  How can her hope have been snatched away when it was right there at arms reach?  What good is clinging to hope anyway when your life is on the line?

Is the word hope interchangeable for the word wish?  Do we say, I hope the the dental assistant is okay?  Or I wish the officers would hurry up and find the right key?

Do you have hope?  Do you know what hope really means?

The Oxford Dictionary says hope is: (1) A feeling of expectation and desire combined.  (2) A person, thing, or circumstance that gives us cause for, to feel fairly confident of.

Roget's Thesaurus lists synonyms for the word hope: desire, confidence, faith, expectation, expectancy, belief, trust, reliance, assurance, security, reassurance, and encouragement.

Let us focus on the characteristics of hope for a moment.  Hope is a feeling (mental or physical awareness) of expectation (looking forward with hope, a probability that a thing will happen) and the desire (a feeling that one would get pleasure or satisfaction by obtaining or possessing something; an expressed wish, or a request) of which one is fairly (moderately) confident (bold).  So one could say that HOPE is a mental or physical awareness looking in the direction of a probability that a thing will happen with which you would be satisfied because a wish or request has been granted.

When one begins to grow, you mature.  You have probably experienced situations in your life that changed certain things about you as you grew older.  As a child, your hopes my have been wishes--especially when blowing out birthday candles on your cake.  Some of your wishes around Christmas time became hope when you unwrapped beautiful boxes with your name on them.

When speaking about Christmas (Christ-mas), your hope becomes your faith.  "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Hebrews 11:1 (KJV)

What do other people believe hope is?  Ask any single parent who is waiting by the mailbox for a child support check.  What is hope?  Ask the teary eyed mother who peers into the casket of her only child taken by gang violence.  What is hope?  Ask the couple who waits for the results of a pregnancy test after two miscarriages and one stillbirth.  What is hope?  Ask the thin, grey haired Dental Assistant who lay in a hospital bed after a hip replacement, back injuries, and facing many long hours of physical therapy ahead.  What is hope?

That Assistant--that woman--now walks with a limp, while the inmate walks free.  Yet she never became bitter or left the medical profession, even when the government denied her disability compensation for her injuries.  That woman raised three daughters, has been married for more than 50 years, is active in her Church and community, still travels extensively for the National Dental Association, and wears and bright smile on her face.  Despite a horrifying experience, she continued on to become very successful in her chosen field, passing on her hope and inspiration to those who come into contact with her on a daily basis.

Do I believe in hope?  Yes.  I was taught by the best and continue to let hope be a guiding force and influence in my daily living.

I must rely on hope and spiritual guidance for every aspect of my life.  Through my trials and tribulations, hope has been the only thing I can depend on.

It strengthens me; it keeps me from feelings of anguish and depression and attempts to take my own life.

Hope can bring peace to nations and bring loved ones together.  Hope heals broken relationships and marriages.  Hope brings wayward children back home and stops wars.  Hope can heal damaged bodies.

Hope is the medicine for our physical well being.  When we cry out in the wee hours of the night for support and help and don't know which way to turn, we cling to HOPE--hope that the morning light will bring a new day and a new beginning.

Hope is such a little words with so much meaning and value.  It is a beacon of light on a dark and lonely night.  It is our shield and comforter.

I learned about hope from the best--from someone who is a living example of hope--for that thin, grey haired woman in this story is my mother.

We rejoice in hope, because it is alive and well.

    H aving the
    O pportunity to
    P ray
    E ffectively