Finding Hope
Yesterday is known. Tomorrow is unknown. Today is unfolding.
All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope. — Winston Churchill
Hope sustains life. To live is to hope. Hope, is the freedom to believe or trust that one’s desires are possible. But how does one preserve the freedom to hope in such a time of chaos and cataclysmic change? Hope will not be delivered to your door. Hope will not come from a store. Hope is generated by faith and love. Hopefulness is an ever-renewing power. Embrace hope and overcome.
Each of us is adapted to our environment. Adaptation is a characteristic of life. Most life forms have physically adapted to their habitat, like this sand dollar, or sea cookie. Many of us know the five-pointed petal design on the exoskeleton found on beaches around the world. But none of us would want to live like a sand dollar slowly grinding away burying ourselves in the sand when trouble comes. Human beings live hopefully. We must be hopeful in order to adapt to the current transformation of our human civilization. Hope is the lighthouse we must steer by.
One of the glories of human life is to believe in hope. Yesterday is known. Tomorrow is unknown. Today is unfolding. We must gather the strength together to set things right. There is far too much desperation and gloom these days. In a way, this is a valid short-term adaptation to dealing with so many problems simultaneously. But the darkness will pass — have hope. While many difficulties are external, the barriers to hope are internal. Look within and seize the day away from the night. Look around at the true beauty of the world. Appreciate the life you do have. We have always held to the hope, the belief, the conviction that there is a better life, a better world, beyond the horizon. — Franklin D. Roosevelt
In the grand scheme of the eternal universe we can appear to be little more than an ephemeral blob. Here today and gone tomorrow. But we are here today. As I wandered this morning, I chanted to myself with different emphasis each time. Be here, now. Be, here, now. Be, here now. The words leapt into my head like a discharge of static electricity. Something in the dynamic moment whispered a prayer and revealed a new mantra of hope. An invocation of hope arose.
Life must bridge the chasms. Otherwise there is no path to the other side. We must span this time between the world we lost and the world we create anew. Reach out towards the shining light of hope. Grasp the hope-filled meaning of your life. Stoke the fires of hope, and find the courage to forge ahead. Courage is like love; it must have hope for nourishment. — Napoleon Bonaparte
