Mr. Promise and His Two Sons, Hope and Wish

I HAVE UPDATED THIS LITTLE ALLEGORY ABOUT HOPE AND WISH, TWO VERY DIFFERENT BROTHERS. CHECK IT OUT.

After reading some thoughts recently from Eugene Peterson on the difference between hoping and wishing, I came up with this little allegory about a Father named Mr. Promise, and his two sons, Hope and Wish. Enjoy.

“There was once a very good man named Mr. Promise. Mr. Promise had two sons named Hope and Wish. Mr. Promise often had to travel abroad because of his work. Whenever he would travel, he would purchase gifts to bring home to Hope and Wish. Often, while traveling Mr. Promise would phone home and tell his sons that he would be bringing them gifts upon his return. Mr. Promise never lied.

Now Mr. Promise’s son Wish would always get his heart set upon a certain gift that he wished his father would bring him. On this particular trip, Wish wanted an “Easy Wand”.  Now Mr. Promise had never even hinted that he would bring Wish an “Easy Wand”, but Wish was determined that the will of Mr. Promise was for him to have an “Easy Wand”. An "Easy Wand" is a magical wand (that Mr. Promise says does not even exist) that makes everything in life easy.  However, Mr. Promise had purchased a beautiful “Belt of Truth” for Wish, and was very excited about seeing the surprise on his son’s face. When Mr. Promise returned and gave the belt to Wish, Wish simply opened the package, threw it down upon the ground, and walked away disappointed.

On the other hand, Hope looked with great expectation to the return of Mr. Promise. Hope never had any preconceived ideas about what Mr. Promise would bring home. Hope knew that his father, Mr. Promise was a good man. Hope was always amazed with the ability Mr. Promise had to figure out the perfect gift for the day and the occasion. Hope was so full of excitement that he thought he would burst with joy. When Mr. Promise returned with the most wonderful gift, a “Book of Light”, Hope was thrilled, captivated, and surprised! Of course, the difference between Wish and Hope was simply that Wish always decided for himself what would make him happy. Hope however trusted that his father, Mr. Promise, always knew better than him what would make him happy.

After many years of this scenario playing out, Wish left the family, disowned them, changed his name to Disappointment, and joined himself to some rather dark companions. Wish, or rather Disappointment "hooked up" with Discontentment, and they had two children named Cynicism and Bitterness. They moved to the community of Ruin, and live there until the present.

Hope met a beautiful girl named Contentment. They married, and had two children named Faith and Love. They live modestly in a very nice tent city within the shadow of the walls of the great city of Paradise. They have been promised a wonderful dwelling in Paradise at a future date. Hope and Contentment have no doubt that they will receive their dwelling because the promissory note was signed by Mr. Promise’s father, Mr. Faithful.”