SENTINEL WATCH December 15, 2003 Issue

Healing without hope? Sure

By Channing Walker

Last Month an incident briefly captured headlines in Southern California. It still gives goose bumps to parents. Tragically, a 20-month-old child drowned in the family swimming pool. Heroic efforts failed to revive her.

Then the story takes a stunning U-turn from heartwrenching toward heartwarming. About 40 minutes after she is pronounced dead, a police investigator at the hospital photographs her. He notices her chest moving. She's breathing! Care for her resumes in an instant. Recent assessments are guarded but optimistic. A spokesperson is quoted as saying, "Tests showed [the child] suffered no gross abnormalities to her brain" (Los Angeles Times, November 12, 2003, page B4).

I read this and imagine the child's family journeying from utter hopelessness to earnest hopefulness. And I revisit a question that has lingered in my mind for the past few years. Can healing happen when you have no hope? Or, maybe I should rephrase that to, How can healing happen when you have no hope? Hope is such a vital ingredient in so many healings, such a powerful assist. Again and again it opens a person to immense spiritual resources already at hand to renew and heal. But have I naively assumed hope is a necessary requirement for healing to happen?