I've been thinking about hope a lot lately. Hope isn't rational. Hope doesn't make sense. Hope sees beyond the obvious. Hope may seem naive. But, without hope, what else do we have?I typed "Why is hope so important?" into google.com and got tons of answers. (see below)
"Faith and hope are closely linked, but different. Hope is a precursor to faith. While faith is believing and trusting in something that you cannot see, hope is imagining that there is something there to even believe and trust in. It is the belief in what could be. Hope redefines what is probable and opens the paths to the impossible. For example, faith is putting your trust in God to help in a financial difficulty, but hope opens the door to even let yourself consider that there may be a way out of your problem. Without hope, there can be no faith, because we would not even deign to pray about those things we could not imagine. Proverbs 13:12 “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.” To read more from this blog post click here.
Put simply: hope involves the will to get there, and different ways to get there.
"Why is hope important? Well, life is difficult. There are many obstacles. Having goals is not enough. One has to keep getting closer to those goals, amidst all the inevitable twists and turns of life. Hope allows people to approach problems with a mindset and strategy-set suitable to success, thereby increasing the chances they will actually accomplish their goals." To read more from this blog post click here.
"In this world, Hope still remains strong on the list of human needs. It is like a single candle during the night , it gives light for us to continue on and find the way out of the darkness. This light of hope burns so strongly in the hearts of some. Hope is all we need to keep on living. It is the foundation to build one's life upon. It is a commitment to continue to struggle, creates endurance and strength in a person. Otherwise he or she is simply sitting back and wishing away his or her life. Because of hope some people take action and decide what will become of their life. People must also accept finite disappointment, but must never lose infinite hope, because in life there will be many failures, but without hope, there will never be a single achievement. Hope is a very necessary component of every day life. We must never give up and never think that our goal is impossible or too hard to attain. If everyone thought that the goals that they had set in life were too difficult, there wouldn't be any of the great inventions today, and this world would be a much different place. Hence, hope will always be the road map and light to the darkest path of life. It will be one's guide on his or her path to happiness." To read more this post click here.
Hope lifts my eyes. Hope let's me see what could be. Hope tells me there is more. Hope forces me to keep walking, searching, longing, loving...hope leads to faith.
That's why hope is so important. Believing in myself or in the people around me will bring disappointment. But, allowing hope to lead me to faith means that life is about more then me and my life. It's about things eternal.
"In other words, hope is the birthplace of Christian self-sacrificing love. That's because we just let God take care of us and aren't preoccupied with having to work to take care of ourselves. We say, "Lord, I just want to be there for other people tomorrow, because you're going to be there for me."
If we don't have the hope that Christ is for us then we will be engaged in self-preservation and self-enhancement. But if we let ourselves be taken care of by God for the future—whether five minutes or five centuries from now—then we can be free to love others. Then God's glory will shine more clearly, because that's how he becomes visible." to read more of this post click here