Hope is a Responsibility

By Lisa White

Hope… to have hope… to be hope… to lose hope.

Hope can help one persevere through a crisis.  Hope can calm, soothe and inspire.  But, what exactly is hope and how can we lose it?

Webster’s Dictionary includes words such as to wish, expect, intend or place confidence. By definition, hope seems to be an action where our power is placed outside ourselves to elicit or expect some sort of change. What good is hope, though, if there is no action behind it?

What if hope was a glowing ember deep inside of us waiting for us to own it…to live it…to be it?

What if hope was a calling card – calling us to step into our life and be a healing presence regardless of our circumstances?  We can sit and have hope or we can have hope and propel healing, inspiring energy into the world.

Hope can heal.

Hope can feed.

Hope can listen.

Hope can lend a helping hand.

So, how do we lose hope? How do we become jaded, apathetic and afraid? Losing hope is like lighting a match and watching it burn out. There’s no action, no service. We light the match but fail to put that match to a useful task. That burned out match could have been a flame that nurtures and warms, a flame by which to cook food, a flame that allows a balloon to soar. That’s how we lose hope. We feel that burning flame within ourselves and fail to pay it forward. Then it fades.

If you are feeling a loss of hope lately, ask yourself a couple of questions. What were you hoping for? What actions are you willing to take to help hope along?

Hope is a responsibility. A responsibility to ourselves…A responsibility to others…A responsibility that takes courage, faith and action.

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