By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills
Hope is as much a part of our lives as breathing. We thrive on a better tomorrow and long for a spark of optimism in a world that appears to have turned upside down.
Your hopes, dreams, and aspirations are not the same as mine, but that doesn’t change the importance. In our still moments, we focus on what we believe will make the perfect world. Our expectations focus on what ensures something good will happen. The sensation is thrilling, and it’s our human nature to grasp onto the positive and not the negative.
- I hope the weather is pretty.
- I hope my health check-up is good.
- I hope my child behaves for the babysitter.
- I hope I get a raise.
- I hope . . .
I took a non-scientific poll from 50 people on Facebook on what hope meant to them. I expected a variety of responses from world powers to politics to a specific religion. The top 5 responses are below:
- My hope is in Jesus and His love.
- My hope is in my faith and optimism.
- My hope is in the acrostic: H = Holding. O = Onto. P = Promised. E = Eternity.
- My hope is in Scripture.
- My hope is in peace.
The sobering truth is faith in Jesus Christ hit 95 percent of the answers, which reminded me of what the Bible says about hope.
- Matthew 6:21 ESV For where your treasure is, there is your heart also.
- Isaiah 40:31 ESV But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
- 2 Corinthians 4:18 ESV As we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
- Romans 15:13 ESV May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
Barna reports in a January 2023 article titled Rising Spiritual Openness in America, “A majority of U.S. adults desires a spiritual dimension to life.” I encourage you to read this article. It addresses the hope so many of us desperately crave.
I hope you are filled with holy anticipation in discovering your hope. What wisdom can you share regarding the hope you have?
