Absolutely nothing.

Stare at sorrow for long enough and you will see that there is nothing in it that can bring joy. Absolutely nothing. And when faced with darkness, you realise there is nothing in this that can make light. By it's very definition it is devoid of light and incapable of being anything other than dark. And there is nothing in death that can create life. Absolutely nothing at all. They are complete opposites and in our natural World it is fully impossible for one to turn itself into the other.

But in this devastating reality, there is something so precious to comprehend: Things can still change, but it takes a power outside itself. It takes a miracle. A work of grace. And there is NOTHING that we can boast about. Nothing at all. And here is the most beautiful part of this reality: It means there is hope for every situation. If there is absolutely NOTHING in a situation that can bring about that change, then however bad, however hopeless, however dark something is, it can always be transformed into something beautiful, by the One who is beautiful, by the One who holds the keys of life. In fact, someone who is utterly wretched or in a complete deadlock situation, with no apparent way out, has as much hope of change as a person who seems to have a wealth of gifts and skills to help them change... and actually, in a strange way, the person who is so utterly lost can even have more hope, because they can only rely on a greater power and will have given up trusting in themselves at all. I remember reading something once about leprosy... in Leviticus 13:13 it says that "if the leprous disease has covered all his body, he shall pronounce him clean of the disease..." And so it is with us, when we realise the full extent of our corruption and reach the absolute end of ourselves, we can be pronounced clean, because of Jesus... At the point of utter desperation, there is also the hope of miraculous transformation. 

Every miracle of the past is down to Him... every miracle of the present is down to Him... and every miracle of the future will be down to Him too. For this reason, we can always have hope. No matter what.