From the Dictionary of Obsolete English:
respair
/rɪˈspɛər/
noun
Fresh hope; recovery from despair.
I have no doubt many of us could make a long list of where we want joy in our lives— and not just hope, but authentic joy. How many dead things do we walk around and step over assuming what is past is past, and what remains is only a memory.
It makes a lot of sense to me that the word “respair” would disappear from our vocabularies as we enter the modern era when it’s so often easier and cheaper to replace than to restore.
Disappointed? Why not just get rid of the old and try something new? A new job, relationship, church, phone. Why expend the effort and vulnerability to “hope again,” when you can pursue another vision of joy somewhere else?
We are quicker to abandon a thing than to hope for its recovery and our eyes are dulled to the possibility of joy in a dark place.
And yet, the light entered the darkness, but we must remember that it was to illuminate the old world created in Genesis. Christ makes all things new, and he makes us new.
I think we need direction for our joy because our hope is so cheap. To loosely paraphrase C.S. Lewis, we’re praying for rain to make another mud puddle to play in, when God wants to take us to the beach.
Fortunately, the God who makes us new, understands our frail hopes and so promises in Jeremiah 29:11
“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.”
May you experience respair, and may you find a surprising joy at the end of your renewed hope.
May you go in Peace.