The Questions of Hope

hope noun 1 (A): desire accompanied by expectation of or belief in fulfillment “…hope is the patient and trustful willingness to live without closure, without resolution, and still be content and even happy…” Richard Rohr Preparing for Christmas with Richard Rohr Hope seems especially important as we move towards the end of 2020, which has been a year where every-last-person may have had a strained relationship with hope. Hope has been a lifeline and strangely absent, all in a day (or really an hour somedays.) We’ve been asked to do things that just a year ago, had we been told, we wouldn’t have been able to imagine. (Lockdowns. Grocery Store shelves empty. Kids out of school since March. Online school. Wear masks. Shortage of toilet paper.)  Mark Nepo (a poet and writer that I really love) says the “hope is the energy of life.” Hope is the belief in what will come but isn’t yet. It’s important when thinking about hope to distinguish hope from optimism. Optimism is the expectation that things ‘have to get better.‘ Hope is the knowledge that things will get better. Optimism is good, it’s a castle in the air, it gives us a burst of energy and encouragement. Hope is a castle built on a deep, solid foundation of rocks. Optimism can easily shift and sway as circumstances change. Hope holds on even when it feels untenable to do so.  “It is a misnomer that hope is idealistic and saccharine. In actuality, hope is the energy of life filtering through the honesty of all its impediments. In our modern era, we endure a culture of hiddenness and denial, which has left most people frantically searching for the true energy of hope.”  (Mark Nepo The Energy of Hope) https://www.patheos.com/blogs/fieldno... I’ve been pondering the questions of hope. Hope is a concept that is easy to talk about (write about) and write pithy quotes around. But until we take hope from an idea or a nice word to our heart and explore our relationship with hope, I wonder if it’s as usable and accessible as it should be. To access the power of hope we need to make the effort to define hope and be honest about how it actually works in our own life.    Below are a few questions I’m asking myself when it comes to hope. I’m sure there are more and you’ll have your own unique questions. Where does hope live? (in your head or in your heart or somewhere in-between?) Where do you need the true energy of hope? What is the anchor of your hope?  What is your relationship between patience and hope?  Are you an optimist or a hope’timist? Are you demanding answers instead of waiting for the full picture?  “When we demand satisfaction of one another, when we demand any completion to history on our terms, when we demand that our anxiety or any dissatisfaction be taken away, saying as it were, “Why weren’t you this for me? Why didn’t life do that for me?”…We are refusing to hold out for the full picture…” Richard Rohr- Preparing for Christmas with Richard Rohr If you like these questions, please consider SUBSCRIBING to The Art of Powering Down; Questions to Recharge Your Soul… Every week there is a question that will gently challenge you, encourage you, or help you live your life with more intention, grace, and purpose. (Sharing these reflections and questions with friends is the greatest compliment!)

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