“In this life, we have to make many choices. Some are very important and some are not. Many of our choices are between good and evil. The choices we make, however, determine to a large extent our happiness or our unhappiness, because we have to live with the consequences of our choices.”

–James E. Faust

If you’ve doubted what all the fuss is about securing our nation’s borders, just ask Israel. It’s reported that Hamas cut through the security fences at the border of Gaza and southern Israel. As ground troops rolled in, paratroopers descended and rockets fired from the sea. It was a coordinated effort to reign terror and annihilation on Israel.

Hamas, in the kindest terms, is a political/military organization guided by Islam and the teachings of Mohammed. In the starkest terms, it’s a group of barbaric heathens that has a warped view of its religion. After all, a religion that supports the extinction of a nation’s citizenry is no religion at all.

You know the story: Hamas terrorists invaded Jewish homes, a music festival, and synagogues, indiscriminately shooting and killing Jewish men, women, and children. Some women who survived were dragged naked into the streets, raped, and then taken as hostages. Now, it’s reported that dozens of Jewish babies were found dead and, in some instances, decapitated. Hamas personifies evil.

From all reports, Hamas has picked on the wrong country. Israel is a country that has as much, if not more, national pride and gumption than any other country in the world. Jewish reservists are eagerly stepping up to active duty and Jewish nationals are flying back to Israel from the U.S. and elsewhere to join in Israel’s defense. According to the Prime Minister, their mission is to destroy Hamas’s presence in Gaza.

None of us is fully read in on all that’s going on in Israel, Gaza, and possibly Iran.  All we know is what we see, and when we saw the carnage conducted in Israel last week, our collective breath caught. And we wondered: Is this yet another instance of terror in a world that’s seen more than its share of such events?

Since I came of age in the 60s, we’ve had the Six-Day War, Viet Nam, the Iranian hostage crisis, 9/11, Iraq, Afghanistan, ISIS, the Houthis, Hezbollah, Covid, and now this–Hamas and its terrorist attack on Israel. But this isn’t a political piece. Notwithstanding the list of bad actors and horrific events, this post is about hope.

Hope? How can we have hope, especially when we know the current conflict won’t be the last we see–on our home soil or elsewhere? Hope is predicated on faith. Faith in a higher Power. We heard people express it during the pandemic: “God’s got this, so I’m going to try not to worry.”

Even for believers, it’s a nebulous concept. Granted, it can’t be seen or quantified. Although it’s difficult to explain intellectually, we understand it with our hearts. I imagine the nonbelievers just shake their heads, but that leaves them with what?

In a world that seems to be coming apart at the seams, where there is carnage, we can choose healing. Where there is injustice, we can choose justice. Where there’s hatred, we can choose love. Where there’s evil, we can choose good. Where there’s despair, we can choose hope. Where there’s darkness, we can choose light.

And, when we make those choices, grounded by our faith, we know the world will go on. That this, too, shall pass.

After all, God’s got this.