I certainly HOPE so. I HOPE and Pray. HOPE you feel better.
Hope. A word tossed about so loosely its meaning has become diminished.
Yet hope is a power within itself, and when fortified with faith can move mountains, says God in the Bible. Faith is also highly valued so much so that the two words are intermingled in the Bible as almost to be one in Hebrews Chapter 11: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” It is one of the three Christian virtues named in 1st Corinthians.
The phrases we know today employing HOPE have a duality in meaning in some cases, a plurality in most and the word is as horribly misused as the word LOVE.
Thrown around like a gimmick and in political phrases by those who least need it to influence those on the verge of hopelessness, and always to achieve a selfish objective.
A successful presidential candidate campaigned on “hope and change” and won. His charismatic style carried him to the White House. The problem arose when the real world collided with political rhetoric. As the air hissed out of the political promise bubble, it became clear Hope was free money and the change was to taxpayers providing it. Perhaps one of the greatest “Bait and switch” ploys ever. At least Roosevelt told America he would grow government beyond comprehension.
A play on Americans dreams, desperations, and frustrations won the office, but the old “Okey Doke” wasn’t from the Republicans as Obama warned. Nothing is free. Somebody pays for it somewhere. Such a stark representation of the gross misuse of the word “hope.”
The source of hope and things hoped for must be explored.
Let’s start with the subject of “things hoped for.”
What exactly are the things we should hope for?
Good health, of course. Our, and our family’s, happiness. The list could go forever even declining to insignificant saying as “I hope you enjoy your dinner.”
I would ask you to consider “hoping” for things any rational person would desire slightly beyond the range of easy access or else refrain from misuse of the word. Only then can the weight of this word be restored. Many hope for things they should simply “work” for with better success of achievement.
The real meaning of the word.
Before one can really understand the meaning of the word hope, He must first understand the meaning of the word “hopeless”.
In my youth and naivety, I would see homeless people, or people living in filth and squalor and attribute their situation to laziness or lack of effort. Read more before you attack me for my youthful ignorance.
The deeper I dug, the more I began to understand the concept of “hopelessness.” Hopelessness, the lack of hope, is the very bottom of the barrel. It is where you have tried everything to no success and you just give up. Some call it despair. That point when life seems to have no meaning with zero prospect for rising above your current situation. I realized at a younger age that sometimes people’s problems can seem so overwhelming that any attempt at resolving them seems futile.
Regaining Hope usually happens when an exterior resource enters the effort. King Solomon said “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. 10 For if they fall, one will lift up the other; but woe to one who is alone and falls.”
To help someone escape the pit of despair and hopelessness is sometimes as simple as befriending a person in need. Other times it is necessary to roll up sleeves and climb in the ditch to help them get up and out. Both require an awareness of other’s plight and a desire to help.
Today’s world has become calloused, hard and jaded by the proliferate evil we experience. We gaze upon other’s needs without recognizing them. We become self absorbed in our own problems or guarded to avoid being wronged. Many are on the verge of forgetting what hope can mean.
It can be turned around! Our direction as humans can be bettered! A simple head nod and smile is a start. Opening a door for someone else, or maybe improvement would be acknowledging and thanking someone who opened a door for you!! Listening to someone’s problems without judgement, doing a good deed, offering up forgiveness for the rude driver are all actions of a person with hope for a better world.
It cost nothing to share hope. The more you share, the more you have. Give it away!
