I, Hope…
What we think of her, how we say her name, and what we place in her care determines everything.
What is Hope?
A word? A feeling? A presence?
A noun? A verb?
A friend? A foe?
She is some of those things. She is all of them. She is less. She is more.
What we think of her, how we say her name, and what we place in her care determines life, history, civilization… everything. Like her name, she is very simple. And like the cliche, “big things come in small packages,” her power is infinite. Her influence is immeasurable. Like one drop of water into a pond, that feeds a stream, that leads to a lake, that opens to an ocean… What we think of her, how we say her name, and what we place in her care can change landscapes.
Hope is raw desire, optimism, and confidence laced with curiosity.
All it takes is one small thought… a simple question: “I wonder…” and the courage to find the answer. To “boldly go where no one has gone before”… even if it’s down a rabbit hole. The person who says, “I wonder… “ grabs Hope by the hand… optimistically and confidently brings her to others hopefully believing that sharing this curiosity and desire will inspire them to join the quest down said rabbit hole. There is proof of this theory. It’s called Disney World. It’s also the creation and subsequent success of a little movie called “Get Out.” What we think of Hope, how we say her name, and what we place in her care can create magic.
But… there’s another side of Hope.
Hope, sadly, is the tortured middle sister between Fear and Faith.
Fear and Faith are constantly at war with one another and poor, Hope is our bridge, our buffer, our seemingly safe zone between them. When we use her name, yet don’t believe in her influence or power, we are siding with Fear. Or maybe we’ve been hanging out with Fear for a while now and just occasionally call on Hope so we don’t seem negative, depressed, or pitiful. Nobody wants to appear hopeless, right? When we use her name and we do believe in her influence and power, we are siding with Faith. When Hope and Faith are aligned, they shower us with wonderful gifts like opportunity, possibility, and prosperity. Poor, Hope. The the abused and tattered rope in our inner-peace tug-o-war.
What do I think of Hope?
How do I say her name? What do I place in her care? Interesting questions, as my relationship with Hope has changed many times. We’ve been “off” more than “on.” My dreams (being a successful author and finding love again being among them) had lots of hopeful take-offs only to crash and burn more times than I care to admit. I blamed her and I banished her from my life believing I could handle dealing with Fear and Faith on my own. Hope would occasionally show up and try to help me… she’s relentless like that. One day, I reluctantly decided to let her back in… just for a minute. I learned the basis of our disconnect. I had plenty of desire, loads of curiosity, a fair amount of optimism, but lacked all the confidence. Fear was winning over Faith and I needed Hope to fight the battle. We still struggle as I strengthen my confidence muscle, but we are (for now) on good terms.
I think Hope is invaluable.
I say her name strong and with conviction. I place in her care a life of abundance for me and my family. Together we will soar.
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Thank you for taking the time to read this piece. I hope you enjoyed it. There’s more where this came from! Follow me… it will be fun!
