Hope.
I hope this finds you doing well.
I hope so.
I hope to. . .
There is something that hangs in the air when we use this word hope. It feels fragile, tentative, easily bruised. “Hopefully” sounds strained and empty, like we’re expecting catastrophe, not the miraculous. When life happens, hope often feels slippery — fleeting in the face of disappointment or fear or stress, like snow in Texas that looks pretty but disappears quickly.
This is not the essence of Hope. Hope does not abandon us in our loss, confusion or disbelief. Hope endures. It remains solid and secure. Hope courageously expects a shift, a metamorphosis, a miracle. Hope co-exists with the difficult, the painful, the failure bringing light into those places of gloom. The rays of Hope silence the worry with tenacious certainty that Good is coming. Good is coming. That’s the message of Christmas.
Hope is an active mindset -- your choice over fear. Hope is a declaration of belief and a refusal to buy into the message of doom. As you embrace emotion and acknowledge the truth of the circumstance, fight valiantly to hang on to Hope. Hope is a choice.
Hold tight to Hope — the Goodness of Christmas!