Joseph Addison shared his simple secret for happiness when he said, “The grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love and something to hope for.”
According to Wikipedia: "Hope is a belief in a positive outcome related to events and circumstances in one's life. Hope is the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best."
“I hope I do well on the test today; I hope to lose 10 pounds on this new diet; I hope I get this new job; I hope I win the lottery!” So often we act as if hope itself might somehow help us accomplish a dream or desire. The reality is, however, that hope is a belief and a feeling. It is not a strategy.
Hope keeps the fire burning inside so we don’t give up on our dreams, but it doesn’t get us closer to fulfilling them. Don’t get me wrong - something to hope for is as essential to happiness as something to do and something to love. We need hope to keep us motivated to take action. Once we give up hope, the chance for success at any endeavor shrivels and dies.
Hope is absolutely necessary for happiness. Hope will keep your spirits up and keep depression at bay. Hope keeps us afloat during good times and not-so-good times. Hope is the very thing that allows us to get past our failures. Hope is what allows us to look at our mistakes in order to learn from them and not give up. Hope is what pushed Thomas Edison to try 10,000 times until he met with success!
Hope cannot live on its own, though. God gives us hope to keep us emotionally "in the game." He wants us to know there is always the time and the means to overcome our past failures. He gives us hope so that we will be encouraged to take action. The feeling of hope must be accompanied by directed action in order to realize our dreams. Dreams and desires will die without hope. God-given hope will languish without action.
For some people, hope is a lot like buying a lottery ticket. They shell out their $5, put the tickets in their pocket and hope to see their six numbers on ping pong balls that Saturday night. Although they have taken some action by buying a few tickets (with the odds of winning slightly better than walking on the moon), it still creates the emotion of hope. State lotteries literally bank on the fact that people have hope. They thrive on our hope but, much like Las Vegas, many people put their money down but very few win.
Remember, if all you care to do is hold the thought of a better life in your head, and the feeling of it loosely in your heart, the chances of bringing your desire to life are little better than the chances that come with buying a Lotto ticket - namely, Slim and his brother, None (oh yeah, and Slim has just left the building...)!
It's admittedly fun to fantasize about positive outcomes and "what ifs." We all enjoy the feeling that comes with believing some great windfall could come to pass. But a better plan is to put your trust in God, hope for the life he has planned for you and put a plan in place to get there. In this way, you can enjoy the feelings of great hope and know that as you work toward achieving the life of your dreams, the journey will be rewarding and the destination fulfilling!
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