You need to have a plan of action if you want to realise your hope

According to the dictionary, hope is “a feeling of desire and expectation that things will go well in the future” and it is very easy to understand why during this time of uncertainty and pandemic so many of us are using and hearing “I hope” statements as part of almost every conversation we have.

I was reflecting on what I hope for at this time in the context of our College:

I hope that our Year 12s are able to return to face-to-face learning so that they can rekindle their friendships with girls with whom they have studied for 6 maybe even 13 years.
I hope that they are also able to re-establish their great relationships with their teachers most of whom have walked with them in their learning journey for at least the last two years.
I hope that when they do return that they are able to keep safe – not only so that their HSC examination can continue, but more importantly so that they are safe.
I hope that our Year 7 to 11 students are able in time, to return safely too.
I hope that the numbers contracting the virus decreases, that our hospital system is able to deal with the numbers coming in each day and that our front-line workers continue to be courageous. I heard only this morning that one man has just been released from the hospital after contracting the virus nearly 400 days ago and that the nurses clapped him in a guard of honour as he left the hospital.

I was told some time ago, that hope is not a strategy and that you need to actually have a plan of action if you wanted to realise your hope… and while this is somewhat true in some circumstances, in settings where you have very little control, trying to plan becomes an exercise in dreams and options.

So as a school we have made plans for Year 12 to return, we have plans to minimise the risk of them contracting the virus, we have plans… but our plans are out of necessity very flexible.

For Christians, hope is so much more than just a feeling.

In the Bible, hope is the confident expectation of what God has promised and its strength is in His faithfulness.

St Angela Merici, foundress of the Ursulines once wrote:

“ … Do not be afraid of not knowing ….have hope and firm faith in God, for he will help you in everything ….”

Prologue 14/15

In this time of so much uncertainty, we can be certain that our God walks with us: he is the face of our front-line workers, our grieving families, our elderly who are unable to be visited, our fathers who have lost their jobs, our own tiredness.

As a Christian community, even though we don’t have control over many aspects of our current situation we do have control over how we respond to it.

So our hope-inspired plan must include respectfulness especially to differences of opinions about the best course of action; it must include sensitivity; it must include selflessness and a sense of working for the common good.

These actions are not “wishes” but are real and tangible ways that we can respond to what is happening and each one of us has control over these everyday actions and attitudes.

And finally, the best and sometimes most forgotten strategy is to pray:

pray that God continues to inspire scientists to find solutions to what we face;
pray that God continues to give front line workers the energy to keep turning up to work even in fear that they take COVID back to their own families;
pray that God refreshes our teachers so that when they return next term the learning can continue to be lively and engaging ;
pray to God that work and business can return so that families are not financially stressed.

In a word: Pray!

To have hope is to believe that history continues to be open to the dream of God and to human creativity;

To have hope is to continue to affirm that it is possible to dream of a different world,

without hunger, without injustice, without discimination;

To have hope is to believe in the revolutionary potential of faith and to leave the door open so that the Spirit can enter and make all things new;

To have hope is to begin as many times as necessary;

To have hope is to live.

Each fortnight I have been sharing with you some of the highlights from the staff and students and each fortnight I have been truly inspired by the way in which they have risen and continue to rise to the challenge.

It is fitting that this week’s highlight comes from Year 12 themselves.

As I write this 121 of our 165 Year 12 students have already received early offers to University and some have received more than 1 offer. This result is testimony to their courage and determination. They were not going to be defeated, nor deflated, they were going to thrive. What a great accomplishment for the cohort and to their teachers.

I hope that the coming break renews each of us so that we can return refreshed for a new term.

God bless each and every one of you and keep you and your families safe and well.