Tuesday January 19, 2021
Many people confuse hope with optimism. One writer defined optimism as the tendency to see good things happening whereas hope is a belief not just in the possibilities but also how we think and act to achieve those possibilities. Hopeful people do not look at the world through rose-colored glasses, as it were, but with reality and determination.
But we cannot hope in isolation. We need a community of others who share our hopes and dreams so we can put them into fruition. As we know not all hopes and dreams are for the good. Dreams can turn into nightmares so we must remember who we say we are: people grounded in a faith that is accepting of all but calling out evil when we see it.
Hope also requires trust. If we are grounded in hopeful faith, we will trust each other and the reality of science so we can sort out truth from fiction. Hope just doesn’t happen; it must be cultivated and sustained, using the evidence from our own lives and our history so we can build and create meaningful change in the world.
Prayer for the Day
May the light of your revelation grow in us, O God,
For we need a gleam of sunlight in the chill of January;
Forgetful of your sovereignty over our seasons and our fears,
We remain bundled in our coldness against the brevity of winter days.
Help us overcome our dusky gloom erasing the habits which freeze our hearts
And teach us the way of hope so we follow in your footsteps.,
We ask this in the name of him who shows the way,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen
Thoughts for the Day
If you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.
- Henry Ford, American industrialist (1863-1947)
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, American writer
Where can I go from your spirit, or where from your presence flee?
If I soar to the heavens, you are there; if I bed down in Sheol, you are there.
If I take wings with the dawn, if I dwell at the ends of the sea,
There, too, your hand leads me, and your right hand seizes me.
If I say, darkness will cover me, and the night will be light for me,
Darkness itself is not dark for you, and the night will light up like the day,
Psalm 139: 7-12 (Trans. By Robert Alter)