HOPE is such a small word for something that has enormous meaning.
According to the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary hope can be used in a countable or uncountable way.
It describes hope as being “a belief that something you want will happen”.
For instance, we might hope that the new Covid Vaccines will help eradicate or at least control the spread of the disease.
Students may say they have “high hopes” for their studies this year.
While parents may have “great hopes” for their children’s futures.
So, there can be a hope of, a hope for, a hope that or a hope of doing something.
The word hope can be used in so many different contexts.
Above all, hope is a fundamental part of life.
HOPE is often the thing that gives us the strength to get through each day.
“Maybe there is still a glimmer of hope” when something seems all but lost?
When searching for answers, it could be your “last hope” to find the truth of the matter.
Or that you have “given up hope”?
“Try not to get your hopes up” is a regular cry when trying to placate someone who is wishing for something deemed unachievable.
In 1817 John Keats, British Poet, wrote the poem “To Hope”
“When by my solitary hearth I sit, And hateful thoughts enwrap my soul in gloom; When no fair dreams before my "mind's eye" flit, And the bare heath of life presents no bloom; Sweet Hope, ethereal balm upon me shed, And wave thy silver pinions o'er my head”.
Even the Star Wars saga is based around the concept of hope, from where George Lucas gave us the catch phrase “for without hope there is nothing”.
HOPELESSNESS is a dark and lonely place to find oneself.
Novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky said: “To live without hope is to cease to live”.
People who lose hope suffer deeply and hope is so easily lost through depression, sadness, grief and loss.
HOPE is important for our mental health.
To have hope is the essence of all life.
HOPE is our life’s breath.
Emily Dickinson’s famous poem “Hope is the Thing with Feathers’” written in 1861 perceives hope as a “bird” that lives inside us, persevering unquestioningly, singing ceaselessly within us.
“Hope” is the thing with feathers -
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops - at all –
Throughout history there are so many famous people who have written about their belief in hope.
Martin Luther King wrote “Everything that is done in this world is done by hope”.
Saint Augustine wrote “There is no love without hope, no hope without love, and neither hope nor love without faith”.
We all have HOPES, DREAMS AND FEARS do we not?
As we progress through the next few weeks, find a moment to consider what your own hopes are.
Feel the hope inside you, allow yourself to be submerged in the abundance of hope, for the dreams, desires and wishes of your heart.
Not all of us are religious, but I would feel remiss if I did not include a quote from the Bible.
Romans 15:13 “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit”.
HOPE is the light in our darkness.
Lewis B. Smedes sums hope up like this:
“Hope is to our spirits what oxygen is to our lungs. Lose hope and you die. They may not bury you for a while, but without hope you are dead inside. The only way to face the future is to fly straight into it on the wings of hope… hope is the energy of the soul. Hope is the power of tomorrow”.
If you feel that all hope is lost, know that it can be found again.
A ray of hope is sometimes all we need to help us find our path, to keep us going.
Please contact someone who can help, reach out to your family and friends or to a professional, there are people willing to listen, willing to help you bring hope back in your life.
May 2021 be filled with abundant hope for all of us.