Reflection
Hope means to keep living amid desperation.
And to keep humming in the darkness.
Hope is knowing that there is love,
It is trust in tomorrow
It is falling asleep and waking again when the sun rises.
In the midst of the gale at sea,
It is to discover land.
In the eyes of another
It is to see that you are understood.
As long as there is still hope
There will also be prayer
And you will be held in God’s hands.
Henri Nouwen
Prayer
Those who hope in God will renew their strength.
Isaiah 40:31
Action
Consider the various meanings of hope. What /who supports your hopes? Keep these as part of your life. Be a source of hope for others when possible. Hope that as a nation we can be better and join with those who work toward it.
Suggested Reading
For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
Romans 8:24-25
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
Hebrews 11:1
Live, love, believe, and with God’s grace, never despair.
Pope Francis
The theological virtue of hope is the patient and trustful willingness to live without closure, without resolution, and still be content and even happy because our satisfaction is now at another level, and our Source is beyond ourselves.
Richard Rohr
Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.
Vaclav Havel
But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough can you see the stars.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Hold fast to dreams,
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird,
That cannot fly.
Langston Hughes
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
Hope can be a powerful force. Maybe there’s no actual magic in it, but when you know what you hope for most and hold it like a light within you, you can make things happen, almost like magic.
Laini Taylor
You cannot hope to build a better world without improving the individuals. To that end, each of us must work for his own improvement and, at the same time, share a general responsibility for all humanity, our particular duty being to aid those to whom we think we can be most useful.
Marie Curie
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