Hope in Ecuador

As I write this week’s post, I have just finished leading a group of about twelve people in a guided reflection on 1 Thessalonians 1:3. We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

The participants in this reflection were staff members at Hacienda of Hope, home to over 30 neglected or abused children at the edge of Ecuador’s stunning Mt. Cayambe. Their work here is hard, progress is often imperceptible and set backs are common. The only people who grind harder than the house parents, counselors and directors at Hacienda are the children themselves.

There are no guarantees in this project. No promises that the parents, whose children have been removed and placed in the care of others, will make the changes necessary to bring them back home. No assurances that children so deeply traumatized will fully recover. One of the few things these folks are certain of is that there are more young ones who need the love and safety that is found here. But then, some parents do try to unlearn generational dysfunction. The children take the chance to trust again and the staff pours love into these little broken vessels knowing full well that some of it will leak out. But they keep pouring.

I’m not sure exactly what Nietzsche meant by his famous quote, “If you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you,” but I take it to mean that people who work in proximity to moral or ethical evil cannot avoid being affected by it. I have spent only a handful of days here, yet I know that some of both the sadness and solace in these children’s stories will stay with me. Whether we witness the triumph of darkness or its defeat, it alters us. And few things in this world are darker than the abuse and neglect of children.

Work Produced by Faith

That’s why I think Paul’s words are perfect for people who “gaze into the abyss,” who work to subdue the darkness. That kind of work can only be produced by faith. Faith that God’s power to heal and restore is infinitely greater than Satan’s power to wound and destroy. Faith that our weakest efforts to shine light into the shadows are strong in God’s power, not our own. Faith that God is in this work with us even when we cannot see any progress.

Labor Prompted by Love

Then there are some labors that only love can compensate. The patience required to nurture a traumatized child who does not, who cannot reciprocate your affection is not funded by any liquid asset. The kindness shown to an adolescent whose only emotional response is anger is a speculative investment that may or may not show a return. You can’t pay people enough to do what is required to rescue the perishing from the abyss. The only thing that prompts that kind of labor, Paul said, is love.

Endurance Inspired by Hope

And since the primary evidence of love is patience, those whose labor is prompted by love need great endurance – a virtue inspired by hope. Endurance inspiring hope is not merely buoyant optimism or an abundance mindset (whatever that is) or a positive disposition. Even successful outcomes, though a great encouragement, do not form the basis of this hope. Paul locates hope in a special person – the Lord Jesus Christ, and in a specific event – the resurrection. Because of Jesus and the empty tomb, we have hope.

Hope that children’s nightmares will be replaced by peaceful sleep. That yesterday’s traumas will be forgotten in the glow of tomorrow’s blessing. Hope that the chaos of abuse will give way to kindness and love. Because the cross was not the end, because the tomb is empty, there is hope. And where there is hope, there is endurance.

On our last night at Hacienda of Hope, we gathered under the prayer dome with the children and their care givers to sing and to pray. At his own initiative, a little child asked to speak. He addressed the two men with whom I traveled, Tim Logan and Steve Owens. Tim and Steve, along with many others, have been champions for these children and the Hacienda for years. Here’s what he said:

“Thank you for all you have done to give us this home. Everything I know I have learned here. Thank you for giving us a place where we can be safe and where we can be loved.”

Wherever there is safety and love, there is hope. And there is hope in Ecuador.