Hope

Hope

Hope defined by the dictionary

1. a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.     
2. a feeling of trust or as verb – want something to happen or be the case.

Is hope similar to a wish? 

Wish

1.  feel or express a strong desire or hope for something that is not easily attainable
2.  want something that cannot or probably will not happen
3.  a desire or hope for something to happen.

Is a hope or wish similar to a dream?

1.  Dreams   indulge in daydreams or fantasies about something greatly desired.
2.  Fantasize  indulge in daydreaming about something desired.
3.  imagine (something that one wants to happen).

We all hope, some people hope a little more than others. You hear people all the time say they hope that certain things will happen. I hope the meal turns out good. I hope it is warm tomorrow or doesn’t rain. We hope a person arrives to a certain destination safely. I hope I have a good interview for a new job. I hope my lottery ticket wins or I wish I would win the lottery. I wish I had more money. We hope things go as planned. I wish that person would like me. I wish people could just get along with each other. Hope and wish are very much the same, maybe the hope is more obtainable. I hope and wish I would feel better. Today I hope and wish it would warm up and I hope the electric stays on. Of course like many things we hope for, we have to be patient and wait for it. It will warm up again, we just have to be patient. Then we will wish it would cool off.

I have done my share of hoping, wishing, daydreaming, and fantasizing about what life would be like if things would just happen a certain way. Some of the things we hope for can be influenced by our actions. Lots of times hope is used in conjunction with prayer. I hope and pray the surgery goes well. Now we not only hope but we pray God is listening and will answer our prayer. Sometimes no matter how much we hope and/or pray, things just don’t happen the way we would like them.

What happens when you lose hope? Over the past few years, I have hoped for things only to be disappointed when it didn’t turn out like I hoped or wished for. Many of the things I hoped for are related to my health. It is hard to be hopeful at times when life doesn’t work out the way we wanted it to. It is easy to just give up when you deal with many problems on a daily basis. I’ve often wondered how some people can have hope when they have many more problems than I do. Is it their faith? Is it their support system? Is their brain just wired different? Is it just OK to survive each day one at a time?

Christmas is a time for hope! The new year is the time for hope and new years resolutions. Sadly few people follow through on their resolutions for very long.

So what are things that bring you hope? Faith, your family, a new job, friends, your Doctor., nature? I imagine the birds were hoping I would fill the bird feeders this morning.

So as we celebrate Christmas and head into the new year, may all your prayers, hopes, wishes and dreams come true.

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