Hope to live and live with hope

The literary meaning of hope is to meet any expectation, accrued out of our various desires.  Once this desire is fulfilled, you feel satisfied and search for another desire to get it fulfilled. Our hope is quenching our thirst of fulfillment and at the same time, it acts as an illusion. Hope provides us enjoyment and at the same time it causes sorrow when the same is not materialized at all. Further, when your hope is not met, the progress in your life suffers considerably. You hope that better days should be imminent whenever you  are in gloomy situation. And, when that situation brings in pleasant outcome, you feel that it should be continued for a long time. So the sequence of our life revolves around hope only.

If you are a firm believer of positive results for all your efforts, you will become successful most of the time. In that case, failure can rarely touch you or loom upon you.  It is the hope, which increases our confidence level and allows us to fulfill our dreams.  Life is full of thrones; it cannot be on the straight path.  If you think that your life will be very smooth, there will be no obstacles, barriers, problems and anxieties, you are wrong.  And it is a complete fallacy. No one can predict what is going to happen in the next morning with certainty. So you should not be discouraged or disheartened to visualize and observe the things in upheaval condition and if the same is not according to your plan and choice. Nothing is going to stay for a long whether it is joy, happiness, distress or sad. Everything will appear because of very many reasons and when the reason is fulfilled; either the happiness or distress will evaporate. In any “ism”, namely Buddhism, Christianity or Judaism, hope is the backbone or the pillar of faith. Here, there is no place of despondent.

Hope is an intrinsic value of desire and even daydreams are also classified accordingly.   For example, If you are desperate to achieve your goal to obtain a very lucrative job in a multinational company and if you are not getting the same, you feel disappointed.  You blame everybody for your failure. Some people even mumble saying, “Oh God! Why are you not giving me the desired job?” Though hope always keeps us moving, but in this particular situation, hope is shattered.  Remember, ‘doubt’ and ‘hope’ both are steps of mind.  Doubt creates the darkest moments in our finest hour, while hope brings finest moment in our darkest hour.

We often mistake a desire of the body for a yearning of the soul. We must understand one aspect very clearly that our wishes are not going to materialize unless our hope is realistic and further, we have to take actions to fulfill the same. For example, your neighbor has purchased a swanky car with a high end brand because he has earned a sizable profit in his business. Seeing this, you start to initiate an action plan to buy a similar type of car. But based on your limited monthly income, you are not in a position to afford the same type of a luxury car, but you are still hoping for the same. In that situation, your hope is unrealistic though we all know that hope is the yardstick of a prosperous life.

Hope is like a two way traffic. If you expect based on your capabilities, you will get, maybe not fully. Contrarily, if you don’t expect, you won’t be getting anything; of course, the choice is yours. That is why, many people profess that you must have hope all the time. The expectation is something reciprocal and interactive, but hope is sufficient unto itself.  It is proven that hope is the best and most powerful quality, which shows a direction to our lives.  We keep our hopes alive through faith and vision.  Since we live based on faith, we are able to foresee our future. All of us live in this great world because we believe in optimism. When we believe in optimism, no obstacles and no barriers can stop us to reach our destination.  No crisis is able to dismay us.  It may happen that we may have to swallow some bitterness, which arises out of bad happenings, but our hope, and faith in our lives keep us alive. We always pray for a blissful and joyous, life, which must be full of entertainment and tension free. Through our  positive, we get a serene, tranquil and peaceful lives. We must develop enough confidence to sustain our hope and face the future without any botheration of failure.  If we are able to garner more and more confidence, then most of our hopes will be fulfilled.

Hope and imagination are interlinked because imagination is a source of fear.  Worry and fear are destructive and eat away your energy. So fear needs to be avoided. Similarly, faith is a qualitative aspect of life, which allows us to ignore everything.  Faith is an inner conviction whereas prayers are based on the divine qualities imbibed within.  The meditation and continual practice of your religious rituals make you to eliminate all types of your sufferings. These practices teach us to endure all our sufferings. Again, all these ritual and religious practices depend on your hope.  Faith is a bridge between where you are, and the place where God is willing to take you. However, you must ensure that faith alone cannot illuminate your life, you must have to own the responsibility and carry out your duties with a full focus and take decisions accordingly. Life is not always easy, smooth and trouble free.  There will be complexities, quarrels, animosity and jealousy, which create twists and turns.  These will further escalate tensions, stresses and irritations. Why this happens?  Because all of us have different types of desires, hopes, expectations, beliefs and attitude. 

Therefore, it is always prudent to depend on the quality of hope and with this hope; you can fulfill your desires, of course, with God’s blessings.  Jesus says, “Don’t worry about these things saying, what will be eaten? What will we drink? What will we wear?’’  These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs.  Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need.