There are a few different definitions for the word hope. They are pretty much all related in some way. One of the definitions I read on dictionary.com stood out to me, though: to believe, desire or trust.
The related definitions are:
Believe: to have confidence in the truth, the existence, or the reliability of something, although without absolute proof that one is right in doing so
Trust: confident expectation of something
Hope is something that has been on my mind lately for a variety of reasons. I will highlight a couple of them here.
Everywhere we turn, there is more bad news about the economy. Whether you’re reading about the housing market, looking at the current gas prices or just trying to balance your checkbook each month, there is something somewhere that can cause each person to lose hope. We try to maintain a positive outlook. In recent months, we have featured stories about the housing market, primarily from the perspective of someone in the mortgage industry, to show that it isn’t all bad news all of the time. A month ago, mortgage rates were the lowest they had been since 2003. That is something that offers hope, at least to some.
For a week or so, it seemed everyone I talked to was having a rough go of it in business. A friend of ours was having a great deal of struggles and ended up closing the doors to his business. I had been trying to maintain a positive attitude, but this particular week made it more difficult. But, I have discovered that it’s not all bad news all of the time. I visited a couple of Delhi businesses on a recent Saturday evening and saw that there is reason to maintain hope, to believe that things can and will get better and to trust that there is a silver lining to the cloud that is the current economy. Don’t give up hope.
Two families lost everything they had to recent house fires. The community immediately rallied around these families to offer them essentials, to meet their needs. To offer them hope. These items may not bring back the items that were lost, especially those that hold special value in their hearts, but it shows that when a community joins together and helps each other, there is hope. They can start again. It’s not so much starting over, but truly starting again. They can make new memories in new ways with new things and they can do so knowing that when things got really tough for them, their community was there. A special thanks to the Leos and other high school students who have worked to raise support in various ways for these families. I am proud of our local youth.
Along with that, a group of local youth came together at the end of February to once again do 30 Hour Famine. By the end of the event, the majority of the youth and their adult chaperones, had gone almost 32 hours without food. Some of them fasted only with water. The group did Famine at St. Francis Church in Turlock, but they had at least two other people who participated with them from afar: one in Santa Cruz and another in Italy. An international 30 Hour Famine event raised money to help World Vision fight worldwide hunger and continue to work to decrease the number of children’s lives lost to starvation and related problems. The group worked to offer hope to children worldwide.
This Lenten season, I have pushed myself a little extra. I have done a couple of fasts and taken on an additional devotional reading. The past few weeks have been difficult for many reasons. Maintaining hope has been difficult. It is easy to get caught up in the struggles and turmoils. It is easy to look at the bad news and think, “oh no, what’s next?” There are times when I, and others, just want to curl up and hide, cry a little bit, and then try to move on. It would be easy to just say, “yep, things are bad and there’s no end in sight.” I think I prefer the challenge of the more difficult route: maintaining hope, believing things will get better and trusting that everything happens for a reason. As difficult as it is, it is probably easier said than done. I guess that just means I’ll have to make an extra effort. But think about it: families who have lost everything have been given hope. Children who are suffering from malnutrition have been given hope. If they can have hope, why can’t all of us have hope?
To this point, I haven’t really focused on the portion of the definition that refers to desire. For the most part, it isn’t what I wanted to focus on here. However, think about it this way. We want things to get better. We desire improvement. Think of that as the first step to having hope.
At the end of a long, frustrating day, I return home to see my son and husband. All of the stress and anxiety of the day seems to just melt away. I guess my family, especially my son, gives me hope. In addition to giving me hope, my son is my joy.
Joy: a source or cause of keen pleasure or delight; something or someone greatly valued or appreciated
What gives you hope? What is your joy? Look to those things as the year progresses and let’s make 2008 a wonderful year!
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