Encouragement

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In the midst of today’s problems and dangers, what we surely need is a positive outlook to overcome our fears rather than be laid low by them. It would be so easy to indulge in some pessimism at these disturbing times – so what we need is to dismiss all feelings of despair and replace them instead with hope.

Hope is a virtue that we should all strive to keep in mind, wherever we are, and whatever we are doing. But there is more to hope than mere expectation that things will turn out just as we wanted, for it should carry with it the firm, unshakeable belief that everything will turn out well.

Some things, such as world affairs, or the recent Credit Crunch, are mostly beyond our influence, and here we can only hope that our politicians and others in authority will act wisely and swiftly. Where there is no hope we cease to live to the full.

When hope dies the joy goes out of life. Everything disintegrates and falls apart and the will to carry on is seriously threatened. What can there be to hope for, we may ask? In these circumstances the worst thing we can do is to brood over our misfortune, or our sense of desolation. Such a defeatist outlook will bring only misery and despair.

On the other hand, even a glimmer of hope is like a beacon in the darkness. It revives the jaded spirit, restores lost energy and revitalises us. For many, hope has been sustained by a strong and living religious faith, a passionate conviction that their lives were in God’s hands, and that they had a meaning and a purpose.

They believe that no matter what happened to them, God cared and understood their needs, and would help them see it through to the end. Hope, sustained by an enduring trust such as this, is invincible. To believe, although we cannot see or understand, in a divine providence, will shape our lives for the better.

Keep this faith alive within you, treasure it and allow it to grow and flourish into effective action for it will strengthen your resolve for doing what is necessary to move forward and to inspire others. Hope, if we permit it, can always be with us, and the more it is acted upon the more powerful and effective it will become.

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