Living in hope

For many people who are awaiting organ transplants, it can often be a very long wait. It can be a time of great physical suffering, worry and anxiety, and only those in this situation can truly understand the daily fears underlying this wait. But one of the great gifts of humanity is its potential to rise above and beyond its physical circumstances, and we see constantly this great strength in those who don’t look on this wait as if their lives are on hold, but continue to fully live life in hope and anticipation of a new future.

In life, if adversity is visited on us, we often have no choice but to accept its presence, and live in hope of change for the better. What defines us uniquely as humans, however, is in having choice as to the attitude we adapt to our circumstance and this alone is the consideration that can liberate us and elevate our lives to a place of beauty beyond pain.

Life is a very special gift and for each of us it is very different. It is an individual journey never before or never again in the history of mankind to be repeated; truly unique. In one form or another pain and suffering are part of that journey. If we see these as something that inevitably limit the potential of our lives, then we will remain as one of life’s victims and casualties.

If alternatively, we see them as an additional obstacle to be overcome and, as a consequence, we have to dig deeper into the armory of human possibility; courage, perseverance, patience, tolerance and hope – then we are beginning to follow the true signposts that guide us on life’s great journey from fear to faith, from self to selflessness and from anger to compassion and forgiveness. In this way we begin to see pain, not as an inexplicably futile and vexatious intrusion but rather as something with profound purpose and meaning in our lives. This great courage and belief in the future is nowhere more manifested than in the lives of those awaiting organ transplants.