What is Hope?
A Meditation by Rev. Cameron Trimble
“We walk by faith, not by sight.” — 2 Corinthians 5:7
We use the word hope in many ways.
We hope things improve. We hope leaders make better decisions. We hope the systems we depend on stabilize. We hope we will be okay.
Most of the time, hope is tied to an outcome we can imagine. It carries a picture of the future we want and a belief that, somehow, we or someone else will get us there.
That kind of hope is fragile. It rises and falls with the news cycle. It depends on conditions we do not control. When those conditions deteriorate, hope begins to thin. It becomes harder to sustain.
There is another way of understanding hope.
John of the Cross wrote in a time of upheaval and deep personal suffering. He was imprisoned by his own community. He had no reason to believe that his work would succeed or even continue. And yet he wrote about a form of hope that does not depend on visible progress or personal accomplishment.
He describes a path where a person releases their need to possess, to secure, to hold onto outcomes. “To come to possess all,” he writes, “desire the possession of nothing.” He is not rejecting the world. He is naming a different way of being in it.
He continues, “To come to be what you are not, you must go by a way in which you are not.”
While this may seem like abstract spirituality, it’s actually a description of what it feels like to live without a clear map, to move forward without knowing how things will resolve, to act without being able to guarantee that what you do will endure.
That is where many people find themselves now.
The systems we relied on do not provide the same stability. The future is harder to picture. The connection between effort and outcome feels less certain. It is natural to want clarity, to want assurance that what we are doing will matter.
John does not offer that assurance. He offers something else.
He describes a kind of freedom that comes when we are no longer driven by the need to secure the future for ourselves. We can act because something is right, not because we can see where it leads. We can participate in what is good without needing to hold onto the result.
This kind of hope does not withdraw from the world. It does not give up on change. It removes the demand that the future confirm us. It allows us to remain engaged without being controlled by outcomes.
Much of our exhaustion comes from trying to carry what is not ours to carry. We try to hold the whole future in place. We measure our actions against results we cannot produce on our own. We lose heart when the scale of the work exceeds what we can see.
John’s insight loosens that grip. We are not asked to guarantee the future. We are asked to participate in it. To act with clarity. To remain connected to what is real. To contribute to life where we can, without needing to secure how it unfolds.
This is a braver form of hope.
It does not rise and fall with the latest development. It is not dependent on visible progress. It is sustained by a deeper orientation, a willingness to stay engaged in what is good, even when the outcome remains open.
We do not need to know where everything is going.
We need to know how we will live within it.
We are in this together,
Cameron
Reflection Questions
Where have you tied your sense of hope to outcomes you cannot control?
What would it mean to act without needing to secure the result?
Where are you being invited to stay engaged, even without clarity?
A Prayer for the Day
A Prayer for Freedom from Possession
God, release us from the need to hold the future. Free us from the belief that everything depends on us, and from the fear that nothing will change. Give us the clarity to act with integrity, and the freedom to let go of what we cannot control. Keep us steady in what is good, even when the way forward is not clear. Amen.
Spiritual Practice
Loosening the Grip
Set aside ten minutes today. Sit somewhere you can be still without interruption.
Begin by naming, as clearly as you can, one outcome you are trying to control. Be specific. It might be something in your work, a relationship, the direction of the world, or a situation that feels urgent and unresolved.
Say it out loud or write it down: This is what I want to happen.
Then notice what sits underneath it. Fear, responsibility, urgency, hope. Do not rush past this. Let yourself feel the weight of it.
Now ask a second question: What is actually mine to do here?
Keep your answer concrete. What is the next step that belongs to you?
It may be a conversation. A decision. A small act of care. It may be as simple as telling the truth about what you see.
Sit with that for a moment.
Then, deliberately release the rest. You can do this physically if it helps: open your hands, place the paper down, or take a breath that marks the shift.
You are not stepping away from responsibility. You are stepping out of the illusion that you can carry the whole outcome.
Return to this throughout the day. Each time you feel yourself tightening around what must happen, come back to the same movement:
Name what you want.
Discern what is yours.
Release what is not.
This is how a deeper form of hope takes root.
Upcoming Events That Might Be of Interest…
My team and I launched a new experiment we are calling “The Commons.” It’s an online space centered around communities of practice: groups of people who share a common concern, set of problems, or passion for a topic, and deepen their knowledge and expertise by interacting on an ongoing basis. Join the community here.
NEW!!! April 14, 2026, 11am ET - FREE WEBINAR - I will be joined by Rev. Shawna Bowman, an amazing artist and pastor of Friendship Presbyterian Church, for a conversation about art as resistance and what it means to show up as a creative individual in a world in need of justice. Shawna will be leading a community of practice starting in April on the Commons. If you want to learn more, register here.
NEW!!! On July 19-24, 2026, I’ll be leading a Women’s Wellness Retreat in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming, and I’d love to extend the invitation to you. We’ll spend five days off the grid, riding horses through wide open landscapes, sharing meals, and creating space to slow down enough to hear ourselves think again. This retreat is about returning to yourself, settling your nervous system, letting go of what you’ve been carrying, and getting clearer about what matters now. The group will be small (no more than 10 women), and we’ll move at a steady, spacious pace, with plenty of room for both conversation and quiet. I hope you’ll consider joining us.
I drafted a Strategic Framework for Congregations as we move into the coming years of increased authoritarianism around the world. If interested, you can download it here.
Fun Things My Friends Are Up To…
I get to work with such amazing, creative people. This section is my way of celebrating them—no paid promotions, just joy in what they’re creating.
The Convergence Music Project has scheduled the fall conference on October 7-10, 2026 in Louisville, Kentucky. We will sing new community songs created specifically for this time in our history and explore together how the songs we sing in worship (and beyond) can empower and encourage us as we live out the biblical call to “do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God.” Learn more here.
A group of faith leaders joined MPR News host Angela Davis for a North Star Journey Live event at our studios in downtown St. Paul on Thursday, March 26, to talk about what they experienced on the front lines of the immigration enforcement surge and how their faith both compelled and comforted them. Listen here.
If you are a leader or member of a congregation looking for consulting support in visioning, planning, hiring or staffing, please consider Convergence.
Yes we are in this together. Holding hope and faith! 🙏🏻
Thanks for this and for all your writing! Do you know Anne Lamott's work? She talks about doing the next right thing, which feels like a close cousin. https://annelamott.substack.com/