Safely Home

A Reflection on the Second Reading for Sunday, December 31st, 2023:
The Feast of the Holy Family

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Hebrews
11:8, 11-12, 17-19

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going. By faith Sarah herself, though barren, received power to conceive, even when she was too old, because she considered him faithful who had promised.

Therefore from one person, and this one as good as dead, descendants were born, “as many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.”

By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac. He who had received the promises was ready to offer up his only-begotten son, of whom he had been told, “It is through Isaac that descendants shall be named for you.” Abraham considered the fact that God is able even to raise someone from the dead — and figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.

Pause. Pray. Reflect.

How do we have faith? When the going gets rough and we’re full of doubt, how do we trust and hold on to hope?

At the time of this writing, I’m sitting on a plane back to Halifax. This short weekend trip to visit my family in Calgary has been bookended by the theme of how to keep faith even when one is unsure. 

On the flight to Calgary, I struck up a conversation with the young woman sitting next to me. Somehow, we went from the topic of how the pandemic changed Toronto for the worse to how to keep the light of hope aflame when you feel like God isn’t looking out for you. Like many of us, she was struggling with loneliness and singlehood while hoping for love. I’ve been there — so recently that this whole whirlwind of being engaged still doesn’t feel real. She said something to me that resonated: “I feel like God doesn’t like me compared to everyone else.”

I told her I’d felt the same. That there were still times when I struggled with doubt. At a very low point, desperate for a change in my life and certain that God didn’t care about me as much as the rest of my friends and community, I wrote a song that contained the lyrics, “Hope is a crutch I’ve been using / to stumble through these endless days.”

Little did I know how radically He would change my life within a year. God’s time, not my time. God’s plan — not something that I could map out or see. 

At the end of the flight (we managed to talk for all four hours!) she admitted that hearing my story had given her some hope that what she dreamed of could still happen. I reassured her that indeed, it could.

This conversation and the difficulty of believing — and hoping — during challenging times stayed with me during the whole weekend. 

I was originally supposed to fly home to Halifax yesterday afternoon, but a powerful storm rocked the city, knocking out power and blowing shipping containers into the harbour with 100 km/hour gusts of wind. Naturally, my flight was delayed…and delayed…and delayed. I’m a decently experienced traveller, but spending hours wondering if you’re going to have to sleep on an airport floor that night is pretty stressful. Via text and phone, my seasoned traveller fiancé patiently walked me through the process of requesting that the gate clerks rebook my flight — asking me to trust him even when I didn’t want to “bother” the airline staff and thought my request wouldn’t work. I shy away from anything even resembling confrontation, which to me includes asking an airline to reroute your flight. But after some nervous excuse-making, I did what he asked — and ended up with a rebooked, rerouted flight home. 

“Trust me in the future?” he asked.

Yes, I will.

Having faith and trusting requires strength, the willingness to take risks, and the ability to listen. This is what Abraham shows us all throughout his story. He and Sarah must have been close to losing faith that they would ever conceive a child, must have nearly given up hope as they aged. Then, when they were blessed with Isaac, God went and asked Abraham to sacrifice him! Imagine the faith, the trust of that man.

God’s plan, not our plan. Trust — hold on — He will always bring you safely home to Him in the end.


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Kim Tan

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