hope springs eternal

“Hope springs eternal in the human breast; 

Man never Is, but always To be blest. 

The soul, uneasy, and confin'd from home, 

Rests and expatiates in a life to come.” 

― Alexander Pope, Essay on Man and Other Poems 

words of hope

A friend framed and gifted me with these words 2 years ago... and they are worthy of mention and inspiring others, again and again:

HOPE

is courage and joyfulness in God!

(Martin Luther, rephrased)

is that thing with feathers that perches in the soul 

and sings the tune without the words 

and never stops... at all.

Emily Dickinson

is faith holding out its hand in the dark.

George Iles

is putting faith to work

when doubting would be easier.

Author Unknown

is patience with the lamp lit.

Tertullian

May the God of hope

fill you with all joy and peace 

as you trust in him,

so that by the power of the Holy Spirit

you may overflow with 

hope.

Paul, Romans 15:13

"confident" hope vs. "wishful thinking" hope

I've thought about taking up this blog again, but I hadn't quite known where/when to begin again... until I read this blog, "Are You There, God? It's me, Atheist":

What is the difference between hope and human wishful thinking? The two have very similar definitions in the dictionary and are often used as synonyms for each other. Perhaps a bit more explanation can be given so that the differences between the two might be more apparent. Either way, as I pointed out before, hope seems to be an emotional bias that can corrode rationality. Also, why include "human" in reference to wishful thinking but not hope? Is hope not just as much a human activity as wishful thinking? My, what a pickle.

I used to ask myself that very same question. At first, I didn't realize it, but I used to be very caught up in the "wishful thinking" definition of hope (for myself). For 10+ years, I struggled with that, with my search for Love, with trying to find solid ground, and with hopelessness, ironically enough. I could never quite find it on my own or with my own human strength, mind, will or emotions.

Then, through the course of several mysterious events, I realized that there are actually two definitions of "hope" -- (1) the wishful-thinking, fingers-crossed, emotional kind of "hope" that you referred to; and (2) the confident, expected, promised "hope" that carries us through. We can't experience or comprehend the later (the eternal hope) without releasing the former (the temporal hope)... Which takes dying to self.

It took A LOT for me to get to a place of truly hearing about this "confident" hope and then letting that message penetrate my heart (including swallowing my pride, self-righteousness, doubt, and skepticism), but it was what needed to happen in order for me to drop the hopelessness and just exemplify true hope!