Seeds of Hope Community

Hope is a common word that’s used in everyday language: “I hope you feel better,” “I hope your team wins,” “I hope you get that new job.” We all hope for something.

Hope is a simple word, however it may surprise you to know it actually has a much deeper meaning, with a wide range of definitions:

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines hope like this:

“to want something to happen or be true and think that it could happen or be true”
“to cherish a desire with anticipation”
“to expect with confidence”

Hope is to trust or expect. Often it’s deep within a person and, at times, can be overshadowed by circumstances. When circumstances are overwhelming, it can be easy to push hope to the side when something didn’t happen the way we expected.

Here’s the thing about hope: the mere nature of hope is to believe again, to expect again and to hold onto hope with expectation and confidence, even when it looks different to what we imagined.

With the increasing instability around us, it can make it difficult to anchor our hope. Yet, we have been created to hope. It’s within the DNA of human life, and we do best when we live with hope and learn to navigate the disappointments of lost hope.

But what if the hopes and disappointments are actually an invitation to change our perspective and make adjustments to our thinking and behaviour?

I once met a woman who did just that. She now goes by the name of The Hope Dealer. The story of her and her 6-year-old son is both inspiring and challenging after she hit a point of lost hope.

There had been a reoccurring pattern in her life of waking up each morning with heaviness and despair and seeing nothing beyond that, until one morning something changed. She had the revelation that she had no hope for herself and her young son, and that was the day she made a decision that their life had to change… and it did!

It wasn’t easy but she knew she needed to find hope, and her first point of call was her language. She stopped saying anything that gave agreement to the hopelessness of their situation and introduced a new language into her vocabulary, the language of hope! Hope for what she deeply desired but had struggled to believe could happen. She got hold of books and materials that would reinforce hope and break the cycle of her mindset. She made a decision to be around people that would encourage her and believe with her for their situation to change.

It wasn’t long before that’s exactly what happened and her circumstances changed.

From that day, she made it her life mission to share her story and challenge people suffering from a lack of hope to consider their choices and the way they think about themselves. She now refers to herself as a hope dealer – now that’s the kind of dealers we need in our
neighbourhoods!

It can be all too easy to lose hope. Disappointments come to all of us at times, but like the seasons and weather patterns, they don’t last forever, they change.

If you have found yourself feeling hopeless or overwhelmed at times, take the steps required to help navigate the season. Consider your language and thoughts and find people who will encourage you. Don’t allow the setbacks of lost hope or lack of hope to stop you from experiencing hope again. We were made to hope, and we all need a good dose of hope to carry us through each day along, with a little bit extra to give to others along the way.

I hope this has encouraged you!

“There is hope, even when your brain tells you otherwise.” – John Green