“The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.” Lamentations 3:22-23
This verse is one of the most often recited verses in all of the Bible. Hymn writers turn these words into melodies for worship. The first 20 verses of Lamentations 3, however, are hard to read.
Kate DiCamillo is a two-time winner of the Newbery Medal, the most prestigious award in children’s literature. When she talks about the inspiration behind her writing, she talks about two things simultaneously.
For a child everything is new, miraculous and beautiful. Part of why Kate DiCamillo loves to writes children’s books is because for kids, the world is full of wonder. Kate DiCamillo writes stories for children in an attempt to communicate this truth: The world is full of wonder.
But wonder is not the only truth about life, and wonder is not the only truth that inspires Kate to write. The other inspiration is this truth: The world is full of pain.
As a child, Kate DiCamillo was often sick. Three winters in a row she was so sick she had to go to the hospital, unsure if she’d ever come home again. Her parents would argue and fight, and sometimes the fights would turn violent. Before she turned 6 years old her family moved from Philadelphia to Florida. Her doctors said the climate of the south might improve her health.
Kate’s father was an orthodontist and had a practice in Philadelphia. He told the family he was going to stay until he could sell the practice and then he’d join them in Florida. But that never happened.
Her new friends and neighbors would ask, “When’s your dad coming?“
“Soon,” Kate would reply. “Real soon.” But even as a child she knew that was not the truth.
Kate DiCamillo’s popular and critically acclaimed books draw deeply from both the well of wonder and the well of pain. So does the word of God, and so do our lives.
The first 20 verses of Lamentations 3 are full of pain. And then we get to verse 21:
“I still dare to hope.” Lamentations 3:21
You may be experiencing the mercies of God, which are new every morning. Or, you may be experiencing the kinds of terrible things that happen in life causing us to doubt the goodness and faithfulness of God.
Whatever the reality of your situation, may you dare to hope!
Questions for reflection:
- Frederick Buechner has written this about grace: The grace of God means something like: “Here is your life. You might never have been, but you are, because the party wouldn’t have been complete without you. Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don’t be afraid. I am with you.” Take some time to reflect on your life. Have you experienced this to be true? Beautiful and terrible things happen. And God is with you in both.
- How is your sense of wonder these days? When you look at the world do you have the wide-eyed wonder of a child? Jesus says unless we become like little children we will never see the Kingdom of God. What needs to change for you to look at the world and see the never-ceasing mercy and faithful love of the Lord?