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A certain sign just down the road from Mammoth Cave is a real head-turner: Little Hope Cemetery.
Passers-by are left to wonder:
Does the word “little” describe the size of the cemetery, or the likelihood of a happy ending for those who are buried in it?
There are more than 200 plots in this central Kentucky burial site, some of them dating back to 1857.
Why the unusual name? The cemetery is named for Little Hope Baptist Church, which more than a century ago was right across the road.
Which only begs the question: Did the word “little” describe the size of the congregation, or the likelihood that everyone would be able to stay awake during next Sunday’s sermon?
The apostle Paul famously wrote that there are three great qualities in life: “Faith, hope, and love, these three remain; but the greatest of these is love” (I Corinthians 13:13). It’s easy to grasp the primacy of love and faith in a Spirit-powered life. Bible readers, however, sometimes treat hope as if it’s a mere also-ran – the equivalent in the sports world of “another player to be named later.”
Yet hope is the reality we need more than any other when pondering the end of life. In all of our relationships, in fact, what the world needs now is hope.
In his book Chasing Daylight, Eugene O’Kelly describes the day that his daughter Gina was born. He writes, “The nurse placed her in [my wife] Corinne’s arms. I moved closer to my wife and baby girl, awed by what lay before me.
“My newborn daughter was staggeringly beautiful, if a bit squashed from the journey. Before I could touch her, she reached out, startling me, and grabbed my finger. She held on tightly.
“A look of shock darkened my face. That day and the next I walked around as if in a fog. Corinne picked up on my odd, distracted behavior. Finally, she confronted me. ‘What’s wrong?’ she demanded. ‘You’re acting very strange.’
“I looked away. ‘What is it?’ she asked. ‘Tell me.’ I couldn’t hide it any longer. ‘The moment she grabbed my finger,’ I said, ‘it hit me that someday I’ll have to say good-bye to her.’”
O’Kelly concludes, “It’s what you get for saying hello to people. At some point, good-bye is coming, too.”
“Good-bye” is coming in all our relationships.
That familiar word, incidentally, is a conflation of four other English words: “God be with you.” One day we will entrust everyone we know into God’s hands. We will leave them behind, one by one, until the day arrives that we will be the one whom others will visit in the cemetery.
God’s good news, however, is spectacularly hopeful.
For all who know Christ, an amazing reunion awaits. We will be with God and with each other forever.
You have to admit: There’s nothing little about that kind of hope.