Blog Why we must nourish hope

A new year always brings a sense of newness and hope. We let the old year go, sometimes with regret, lately more with relief. Surely the new year will be better, safer, and more back to normal. Of course, that’s what we were told about 2021. And yet, hope still rises for a future better than the past couple of years.

We have hope because that capacity is built not in our culture or race, but within the very fabric of our DNA. A farmer may plant a crop looking for a harvest due to years of farming and experience. But however many years of experience a farmer may have, farming carries risk.

It is hope that makes a difference, providing the farmer the edge that there will be a harvest and it will be good. Hope is a large component of almost every endeavor from investments and inventions to personal relationships.

Marriage begins with love, faith that the relationship will last, and hope that it will. When we do something to hurt someone, when we apologize we do so with the hope a relationship can be restored. What is interesting about hope is that it is often dashed in light of reality, and yet, we move forward with an element of hope.

Orbison Sweet Marsden said, “There is no medicine like hope. No incentive so great, and no tonic so powerful as expectation of something better tomorrow.

Hope may not seem all that important until it is gone, leaving only darkness and the belief that life is no longer worth living. Losing hope means losing everything. Losing hope leads to depression, anger and even quitting to the point of taking one’s life.

This is why we need to nourish hope in ourselves and others, especially our children. It is filling our minds with life-affirming words, pictures, and other media. It is lifting up through encouragement--a letter, a phone call, an email, or even a text can make a difference in someone else’s life.

Only a short time into the new year and our resolutions are most likely broken. We wonder why we bothered to make them. But broken resolutions can become the foundation for hope and a better tomorrow--regardless of our circumstances.

Life will never be all roses and sunshine. Bad days, weeks happen. There are illnesses, cancer, and death. Tragedies happen. Hope is the difference between wallowing in the hurt and pain and allowing time to grieve, but still moving forward with faith and hope.

John Greenleaf Whittier wrote, “Behind the cloud the starlight lurks,
Through showers the sunbeams fall,
For God, who loveth all His works,
Has left His hope for all.

In this new year, let us choose to always keep hope alive.

Faith will help us get there.

© 2022 Carolyn R Scheidies
Kearney Hub Column published 01/17/22
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Devotion poetry My Will—Yours Lord

Lord Jesus,
You are my Savior
I pray to and praise Your name
Even though the path is rough
I will trust You care, are there

Remembering how Your presence in the past
has protected,
provided,
and brought peace.

You are faithful, Lord,
I will stand on Your Word
And offer You what You want most
My heart,
my mind,
my will.

My hands I raise to You
In grateful praise.
Find in surrender that
I know forgiveness,
peace and hope...
Abundantly.

Isaiah 25:1 O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt You, I will praise Your name; for You have done wonderful things; Your counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.

(C)  2016 Carolyn R Scheidies
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From First I Bow