a birthday wish & letter to my friends:
Warmest greetings to you!My birthday is tomorrow (Friday), and I'd love to celebrate with you somehow -- in person and/or in spirit!Whether or not you can join me, please consider something with me:What is the meaning of "hope" in your life? What brings you true hope? What is the reason for your hope?As a form of celebrating with me (near or far), please just spend time thinking about this in depth.Then, if you feel inspired, see if you can come up with something you can share with me that represents it, like an object, a picture, a poem, a thought, a dream, a song, a symbol, a story, an action, etc. I would love to hear your take on it and also to begin collecting these sorts of stories & such from folks. Now, if you can't think of something specific, don't worry, just keep thinking about it. (Believe me, I've thought about it for nearly 31 years, especially the past 2.5, and I don't plan to stop anytime soon.)Something will come to you eventually... and if not, ask someone who you consider to be "hope"-filled for the reason for their hope. That way, the essence of this birthday gift will continue to grow!Meanwhile, please know that I love & miss you dearly.Gratefully,Hope Deifell
21 comments:
HOPE!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! what a freaking cool idea! i am so glad that this is how you are celebrating your bday!
thanks for telling people it is your bday.
i HOPE you have a great day!!! gosh, i dont think i realize how much hope is a part of human experience.
i will gladly consider hope on your birthday, and ponder it.
thanks for letting me be a part of this.
may God bless you in a special way this birthday.
-caris
Hey Hope,
I was just thinking of you earlier today (on my birthday). May you have a most amazing encounter with God tonight as you sleep. An infusion of hope for your future and the places you still have to go and the people you will meet and change with the essence of the Creator. Peace, love, and overflowing happiness to you on the day you entered this world and the Father smiled as He thought of what you were then, are today, and will be tomorrow.
A big hug to you and Heather.
Hoping to see you both soon,
Rocket
Happy birthday Hope. Its wonderful to hear from you. I am in Singapore at the moment.
I have been asking myself this question too. What gives me hope is being itself. This breadth that I can take this moment gives me hope, not only that I am alive and can do something, but that this breadth is a gift to me. I cannot not breathe. Should I die, the very dust of this universe gives hope. This universe is alive.
Much love
Leng
HOPE IS:
staring down the barrel
and not pulling the trigger
taking everything inside of me
that is dead, ugly, evil
and washing it all away
its my lighthouse when
the pain in my chest
my Siren's song
lulls me to crash
into the jagged rocks below
its my second chance
to do everything right
when so many times
I have fucked myself over
its knowing that what is
greater than myself
will keep me alive
when I have let go
of the rope
bear
Thank you for sending me this Hope :-)
You are a wonderful, inspirational, joy-filled person and I am so grateful that I have had the opportunity to get to know you.
Sarah
Happy birthday, Hope :-)
I'll give you a little bit of what came to mind. It won't be a direct response to any of your bold questions, but it will be something to do with hope, at least.
Every so often, I'll counsel someone in a particular way using the last verse of 1 Cor 13, where it is said that faith, hope, and love are eternal. Nevermind the nature of my counsel. I only mention it because a couple years ago God used that passage to enlighten me that faith and hope should be drawn out of people / exhorted in people just as one would seek to foster love within a person. To the extent we act in love, we can expect that act to be pleasing to God and able to withstand His testing when He returns. It's the same with faith and hope.
Well, in the time that God poured some stuff into me about that passage, I contemplated the difference between faith and hope, which in our language and everyday use can by nearly synonymous. Even when you Google a bunch of stuff and look at scholarly work, the distinctions made between the two are (I find) very unsatisfactory! Well, I'll quickly get to the marrow of what I want to offer you, which I bet you have already arrived at in your pontification (that's a fun word to use :-).
I think hope is fundamentally about desire. Faith manifest in action a belief that something is true. If you research the Hebrew work emunah, you find that the Hebrew notion of faith contained within it the concept of "moving toward" something. There is no faith that is idle in its original and biblical usage. Hope, I would say, is the expectation of the fulfillment of an as-yet-unfulfilled desire. Desire is the essential quality of hope, and without the desire aspect, one ceases to have hope.
Okay, there's my pontification!
:-)
Blake
Happy birthday Hope!!
I love your idea for how to celebrate your birthday this year. I feel like asking me (us) to think about hope is a gift FROM you... I will think much on it and send you some thoughts once I get them down. Meanwhile, have an excellent day!
Lots of love,
Jason
Here is some scriptures that bring me Great Hope! I reflect on these quite regularly...Revelation 21 & 22
Kevin
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13
"Do not look forward to the changes and chances of this life in fear; rather look to them with full hope that, as they arise, God, whose you are, will deliver you out of them. He is your Keeper. He has kept you hitherto. Hold fast to his dear hand, and he will lead you safely through all things; and, when you cannot stand, he will bear you in his arms." - Saint Frances of Sales
Melinda
you are such a gift to this world. i am not sure i will be able to make it out this weekend, but i just want to say happy birthday. i would love to connect sometime. you have always intrigued my imagination and spirit with your energy and stories of journeys. may this weekend hold you near and dear. thank you for challenging your community to consider the depth of their lives. so here is something that has inspired me deeply and allowed me to digest my mistakes into nutrients for new growth. a poem by mary oliver:
To Begin With, the Sweet Grass
(excerpt)
1.
Will the hungry ox stand in the field and not eat
of the sweet grass?
Will the owl bite off its own wings?
Will the lark forget to lift its body in the air or
forget to sing?
Will the rivers run upstream?
Behold, I say - behold
the reliability and the finery and the teachings
of this gritty earth gift.
2.
Eat bread and understand comfort.
Drink water, and understand delight.
Visit the garden where the scarlet trumpets
are opening their bodies for the hummingbirds
who are drinking the sweetness, who are
thrillingly gluttonous.
For one thing leads to another.
Soon you will notice how stones shine underfoot.
Eventually tides will be the only calendar you believe in.
And someone's face, whom you love, will be as a star
both intimate and ultimate,
and you will be both heart-shaken and respectful.
And you will hear the air itself, like a beloved, whisper:
oh, let me, for a while longer, enter the two
beautiful bodies of your lungs.
7.
What I loved in the beginning, I think, was mostly myself.
Never mind that I had to, since somebody had to.
That was many years ago.
Since then I have gone out from my confinements,
through with difficulty.
I mean the ones that thought to rule my heart.
I cast them out, I put them on the mush pile.
They will be nourishment somehow (everything is nourishment
somehow or another).
And I have become the child of the clouds, and of hope.
I have become the friend of the enemy, whoever that is.
I have become older and, cherishing what I have learned,
I have become younger.
And what do I risk to tell you this, which is all I know?
Love yourself. Then forget it. Then, love the world.
~ Mary Oliver ~
(Evidence)
much love,
brian
Blessings to you on the day the world received you. I took this photo of a figurine and a calligraphy painted card we have that's leaning against a window in our dining room. The script in Japanese reads "But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint." Isa. 40:31. The scripture and setting had a go to the world feel to it - like you. The light reflections on the cellophane covering seem to add to the passion, the faith and the mystery of the essence of your name Hope.
Happy birthday,
Rob
image of hope
Happy Birthday!! I've been thinking about you and meaning to get in touch. I would love to hear an update on your life (and it would be great to catch up in person in the near future).
I arrived in Iraq this morning for a six week stint. I'm working on a gender assessment that will help inform the strategic direction of US development assistance over the next two years. So hope is a key word here-- the Iraqi people have been through so much and I think that some are starting to lose hope that things will get better. Things have moved backwards here since the invasion in terms of women's rights and the hopefulness that a lot of women felt in the early years has diminished. The task is daunting, but I'm hopeful that I can make a small contribution as part of this team, to help make sure that women's needs and contributions are recognized and prioritized. I choose to be hopeful, because it's better than the alternative!
Best wishes to you on your birthday, I hope it's a great day!
xo
F
Dear Hope --
We hope your birthday is full of joy as well as thought and hope.
We find hope in the affirmation by the late U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy:
"The work goes on,
The cause endures,
The hope still lives,
And the dream shall never die!"
Robbins and Meg
A few thoughts - what "hope" means to me:
1) Hebrews 10:23 "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful."
- We stand on our hope - something which is promised - because its fulfillment is a sure thing. It's a beacon that keeps us going through thick and thin.
2) In the Jewish "Thanksgiving" (Modim) prayer said daily, 3X a day: "We have always placed our hope in You."
- We don't rely on or trust in man but only in G-d. He is our hope.
3) HaTikvah: The Hope (National Anthem of the State of Israel)
"As long as the Jewish spirit is yearning deep in the heart,
With eyes turned toward the East, looking toward Zion,
Then our hope - the two-thousand-year-old hope - will not be lost:
To be a free people in our land,
The land of Zion and Jerusalem."
- Hope is timeless. It transcends circumstances. It empowers the Spirit. Hope has a special meaning for the Jewish people.
What a beautiful name, you have! In Hebrew, it's Tikva תקווה
Dawn
I say that hope is finding something or someone you care enough about to be motivated to action. Hope is the reason you get out of bed in the morning, because you care enough about doing something that day. For me, hope is the person/project/trip to another country/event that gives me something to look forward to. But hope is also finding the motivation to do things that have a deeper meaning, helping someone out of the goodness of your heart. It is the hope that your actions can have a positive impact that drives me to action, the hope that things can change for the better.
Jenny H
As of late my hopes and dreams are very specific and relate to accomplishing home repairs. Today I hope that I can finx my leaky bathroom faucet with calling a plumber or spending a ton of money. Wish me luck.
Felica
According to Oxford dictionary hope means, a feeling of expectation and desire for something to happen.
But in the Christian perspective, when we look in to the book of Mark 5:35-36 it talk about the life of Jairus’s. Jairus was in crisis, confused, afraid and without hope but Jesus speak to him in the midst of crisis, “Don’t be afraid; just believe”. Look at your problem from Jesus point of view, Jesus give both hope and promise. To me hope is very clear Jesus who died and buried and rose again and he was assented to heaven, this is all what is ”HOPE”. hope one day I will see him face to face. So let’s keeping this hope in us, let’s have faith in Him.
Akum
I'm not sure I can say what the "true meaning" of hope is, but I can point to certain things that show it. I can point to three:
A song: "The Lucky One" by Au Revoir Simone
A poem: "The Song of Wandering Aengus" by W.B. Yeats
An image: The bright green tree that grows in a corner of the crowded slum next to my neighborhood in Kolkata. Women in saris draw water from a nearby pump and fill their golden pots, and the ground is always wet and shining. The tree drops little white blossoms, and in a place that sometimes stinks, it is like a reminder that life, purity, and beauty will grow there anyway.
Jason
Ahhh hope your so beautiful. Thank you for inspiring me to think of hope today.
My story is about a friend of mine who is full of love and light. Her name is Laura Vogel and she touched my life in many ways. Recently she help me start up my garden here in Maui and it is so beautiful and growing yummy food. Our time together was always playing (hiking, diving, surfing, gardening....) pure friendship. Recently Laura went missing on the North Shore of Maui near Haiku. She went camping alone and it is believed that someone has taken her. Last Sunday marked one month since her disappearance, yet hope is still alive and strong. It has amazed me how many people who do not even know Laura has stepped up to help out showing deep concern. People have started a group called "Laura Light" and vow to hold her light within their soul as we trek through life. So this is my story. I hope and pray that Laura will be found and I carry her beautiful light within always.
Happy Birthday Hope. You have a beautiful light within as well and I always feel your love even from a far.
Kelley
The meaning of hope in my life is Jesus Christ and the reality of his kingdom at work in the world around me and at work within me. I call this true hope because it reminds me that the world is not as it should be and it is not as it will be. God will redeem all of creation and that work is happening right now. Because of this we can live a life of hope where we join God in his kingdom work of reclaiming, restoring, and re-purposing all of creation, beginning with ourselves.
Todd W
I love these questions and have enjoyed chewing on them for the last month or so.
My thoughts are in little pieces...
Hope is the opposite of fear in the sense that fear restricts your capacity to think of anything but the present moment, and hope is like a search light into the future. It doesn't tell you what is coming, it just assures you that you will be okay--you will have what you need.
For me, I feel the most hope when I think of the people in my life whom I love and who love me. We all lift each other up when we care for one another. I was talking to Maggie the other day, and I said something that expressed some doubt about myself and she said, "Do you know you?" Hah! That has become what I say to myself whenever I start to doubt myself.
I also feel hope when I am doing something I love to do (exploring, discovering, creating).
Hope : Soul Food : Body It keeps me going, gives me a greater sense of purpose and joy.
Sherman Alexie recently wrote a book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, which is about hope, in large part. The protagonist lives on a reservation in WA, and he decides to go to high school off the reservation. He ends up gaining a lot of hope from the people he meets at his new school. Besides being funny and real, it illustrates how hope and hopelessness are both contagious. I like the idea of being a spreader of hope. :]
You have an awesome name!
Tilly
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