The Hope Element
Every living being requires hope.
It is the element that keeps us all alive. It enables us to reach upward and forward, to keep living, growing and thriving. Sometimes to keep moving and keep trying despite shortfalls and pitfalls. To keep getting up and going.
To keep on keeping on even in the face of adversity and complexity.
Hope.
We are all projects of hope. We get an injection of hope while we sleep, so that we have the will to get up in the morning and face the day not matter what.
God wired us for hope. As blood is to the body, hope is to the soul.
We recognize hope when we feel it and when we need it, but it’s hard to define and describe. Hope is all about imagining and reaching for a better future for ourselves. Hope is both an emotion and a way of thinking. We experience it in our brain but it comes from somewhere or someone outside ourselves. Hope is crucial in times of uncertainty, and in dealing with adversity.
Nature teaches us the concept of hope. A profound scripture says it like this:
“At least there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail. Its roots may grow old in the ground and its stump die in the soil, yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth shoots like a plant. Job 14:7-9
Plants respond to water, as the human soul responds to hope.
Where does hope come from then?
Hope comes from other humans. We breathe hope into one another by being connected. Any human connectedness has potential to infuse hope into the human soul. Every community breeds hope. Be it relational, cultural, professional, virtual, geographical, or socio-political.
We feed hope off each other, potentially. Some communities are toxic, yes; but most are positive and constructive. These are the ones where we find hope.
Just seeing your colleague’s smile on a Monday morning encourages you to grab a coffee and get your act together. Or, the scent of food when you get home, gives you the impetus to leave the day behind and relax.
Hope. It is not just a fuzzy word. It is powerful.
I have been looking at the phenomenon of human displacement. Those who leave their lives, land and livelihood and relocate under severely dangerous circumstances to rebuild their lives somewhere else. What keeps them moving? I found out it is Hope.
Hope that there is a better life somewhere else. Hope that they can relocate, rebuild and settle in a foreign land, even if they have to go through dire straits to get there and then wait for months, years sometimes decades to be regularised in their new home country.
What keeps them going, persevering and enduring hardship and hostility, loneliness and uncertainty for what seems like eternity… Hope.
Hope is a powerful agent of impetus, of reaching, of moving, of growing, of courage, of living.
Hope is an emotion, it is an action and it is a belief system. Each of those elements together make up what hope is. It is not just an emotion, nor an action, nor belief system. They all work in tandem.
Professionals and intellectuals have tried to understand hope, but even they have concluded that it is beyond them. They know that:
…hope works for the brain and in the brain. If you experience hope in the face of adversity, your brain performs better, and you are more likely to make positive decisions…
We know of a man who hoped in the face of a hopeless situation. His hope was based on a promise that he knew could not fail.
Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. Romans 4:18-21
God is the source of ALL hope. He is our Living Hope.
The scriptures in the Bible are full of promises of God’s faithfulness and what He has done and will do for us when we put our trust in Him. And, He always comes through on His promises for those who love Him. God keeps His promises. His word cannot fail. It just cannot. He is a promise-keeper.
So, these three remain, faith, hope and love: But the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13
For hope to work, faith and love must be present. The three work together in tandem.
by elizabeth O. David
