Reflection
It is easy to become discouraged in disappointing times. Discouragement demoralizes us. It deprives us of confidence and enthusiasm. Our belief that things can improve is weakened and we are deterred from taking any positive action. Hope rescues us. It believes that things can improve. Hope is not blind to reality but it has confidence that, with God’s help, we can do better. Hope is proactive. It makes connections in the face of apparent impossibilities. Hope believes it can find a way. It believes there is a future and it is worth the effort of working toward it.
Prayer
In You, O God, is my hope.
Action
Reflect on the sources of your discouragement? How can you engender the hope to work toward change?
Suggested Reading
With human beings it is impossible, but to God all things are possible.
Matthew 19:25
I can do all things through the One who strengthens me.
Phillipians 3:13
Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what it is still possible for you to do.
Pope John XXII
Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today.Thich Nhat Hanh
We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope.
Martin Luther King, Jr
We should not let our fears hold us back from pursuing our hopes.
John F. Kennedy
The very least you can do in your life is figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope. Not admire it from a distance but live right in it, under its roof.
Barbara Kingsolver
You may not always have a comfortable life and you will not always be able to solve all of the world’s problems at once but don’t ever underestimate the importance you can have because history has shown us that courage can be contagious and hope can take on a life of its own.
Michelle Obama
Hope lies in dreams, in imagination, and in the courage of those who dare to make dreams into reality.
Jonas Salk
There was never a night or a problem that could defeat sunrise or hope.
Bernard Williams
Hope fills the holes of my frustration in my heart.
Emanuel Cleaver