The Purpose of Hope and Where We Might Find it
We are indeed living in interesting times. The future seems more uncertain now than ever. We are being asked to rely on hope even more than we have ever done before and that is a big ask!
In ‘normal’ times we hope the weather will get better, we hope our children will be happy, we hope to find that perfect relationship, we hope our efforts will be rewarded.
In ‘pandemic’ times’, we hope the pandemic will end; we hope we can go back to normal; we hope we don’t get sick; we hope they find a cure; we hope the vaccines will work; we hope our young people don’t miss out on their education; we hope we can keep our jobs and pay our bills; we hope we can put bread on the table… we hope we can hug our loved ones soon…
Hope clarifies for us what we actually want. That in itself is powerful. It’s only by knowing what we want and hoping we can achieve it, that gives our life its direction, and determines our actions.
Hope by itself isn’t very practical. Hoping I win the lottery isn’t going to help me if I don’t actually buy a ticket.
“Hope can be a powerful force. Maybe there’s no actual magic in it, but when you know what you hope for most, and hold it like a light within you, you can make things happen, almost like magic.” – Laini Taylor.
With hope we are reminded that we hold in our hearts and minds, a tool of great power – the power to dream, to imagine, to hope. When life seems ‘hopeless’ it’s just that we have stopped using the gift of our imagination.
Hoping lets us imagine the best outcome – that thing that we really want to happen, that we hope will happen, that really could happen. Focusing on this hope helps us cope. It takes courage to hope.
And it takes courage to share our hope. When the future seems hopeless it’s just that we are not having enough hopeful conversations with hopeful people, working to achieve what we all hope for.
When we have hope, we have something to look forward to, to work towards, to ‘help’ make it happen. Saying “it’s hopeless, I despair of ever winning the lottery” is nonsense if I don’t actually buy a ticket. With a ticket, hoping for a win is quite sensible. Hoping to win allows me to dream about what I could spend my winnings on, which can be quite exciting in itself – even if I never win the lottery! Now at least I know what I would love in my life – and maybe there are other ways to get it, that don’t involve winning the lottery.
We accept today and we hope for a better tomorrow. With acceptance of the situation now, we can cope with it, in the hope of a brighter future. The future will always come to pass. We do not have to hope that the future will come; we just have to hope it will be bright.
Where do we find this hope? We are creatures of hope. ‘Hope springs eternal in the human heart’. Hope is eternally available to us, as long as we have life and breath, and love in our lives.
Hope is never lost, as long as we don’t lose hope. When all hope seems lost, like most things in life that seem ‘elusive’ – it’s just that we don’t know where to look. We look outwardly for hope and we despair. There is no ‘hope’ out there. Hope is ‘in here’. We are full of hope. We bring it ‘out here’ for others to see. We hope from the inside. We love and we hope. We hope and we love.
What do you hope for and why? or List 3 things that are top of your hope list, why are they important and what are you doing while you are hoping?
