Hope and a Future

“For I know the plans I have for you” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jer 29:11 NIV).

For well over ten years, my husband continues to watch the same movie three to four times a week. I’m not a big TV fan so I generally shake my head and pick up a book while still catching bits and pieces of the film.  I guess I have never questioned his obsession with this movie; a movie where a large majority of the time is spent in silence as the character is stranded alone on an island and his only form of communication is with a volleyball.  The story makes a dramatic change when one day a portable toilet washes ashore and, although it's value is not immediately understood, it ultimately serves as the sail for his lifesaving raft.

We are self-employed and our living is based upon sales. My husband travels a lot and my son-in-law has become his roommate over the past year or so. One night my son-in-law asked, “Why do you watch Cast Away over and over again?”

His response astonished me, “It gives me hope. While experiencing disappointment day after day, he held on to the hope of a rescue by holding tight to a small locket with his girlfriend’s picture.”

In the movie, when the character is rescued, he is devastated to find that during his four years of isolation, the love of his life—presuming him dead—had married and had a child. When his friend asked him, “What are you going to do now?” He replied, “Tomorrow the sun will rise and who knows what the tide could bring?”

Similarly, my husband explained that he holds onto the hope of future sales by grasping tight to a yellow notepad that lists each potential customer’s name.   Like in the movie Cast Away, he says, “Most days end in disappointment and the list of prospects on the yellow pad often fall by the wayside for one reason or another, but my faith in God gives me the hope of a new day with new possibilities.”   Likewise, in the book of Jeremiah we are comforted by the verse that reminds us of God’s plan for us, “…to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jer 29:11 NIV).