hope inventory
The first grape hyacinths are poking through the earth, purple flags announcing the inevitability of spring. If years ago I had only whispered a wish of seeing dainty flowers dotting my garden, the soil would be void of these clusters. I needed to purchase bulbs, enrich the soil, dig a hole, wait for a deep freeze, the passage of time, and the magic of nature.
Every year these flowers return, more in number, ignoring the confines of the brick border and exerting fragrant dominance among blades of grass.
I don’t mind.
I wish finding hope was as easy as purchasing it by the bagful or placing an order online to arrive when my supply is depleted.
Weariness surrounds us. It’s found in eyes above masks, conversations, and words scattered across screens.
I wonder are we losing hope?
Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.
Proverbs 13: 12
I have been allowing my mind to dwell on what hope means and resembles.
I pretend to be unfamiliar with hope or its meaning by entering the word into my computer browser to find definitions and other pertinent information.
Let’s be amateurs and go on a hope expedition.
hope (n.)
A feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen
A feeling of trust
hope (v.)
to want something to happen or be the case
intend if possible to do something
Hope is a person, place, or thing but it is also an action. Hope is what we place on something or in someone. Hope resides outside of us but once captured and anchored in place, it takes dominion.
When I searched the Bible for the word hope, depending on the translation and version, there were 129 to 291 verses pertaining to hope. In the book of Job, the word hope is used 18 times. Regardless of one’s biblical scholarship, many people have heard the expression of comparing a person’s patience to that of Job’s.
The book of Job is a chronicle about a man who loses all material possessions, children, and physical health. When the word “hope” is uttered by Job or the remaining people in his life, it confirms that when losses or hardships are present, hope is a highly sought-after commodity.
Job is questioned by others and has questions for God. The ending of the book of Job finds him receiving back more than he had in his former days. There was multiplication in Job’s life but nothing could replace the previous losses or remove the scars from his physical trial.
I am fairly certain we wish we knew the resolutions of our stories or to peek at the end of this chapter in time. We find ourselves squarely in the midst of a cliffhanger, the middle of our struggles. The course of time that has marched onward may have caused us to cease asking, “how much longer?” and instead, “can we keep doing this?” We are all a bit heartsick, like a withering vine when we long to resemble a flourishing tree bursting with life.
It’s time to take a hope inventory.
Which form of the word hope defines where your heart and mind resides?
hope
hopes
hoping
hoped
On the continuum of commonly used phrases pertaining to hope, which one resonates most?
a beacon of hope
hope springs eternal
hope against hope
hope for the best
glimmer/ray of hope
not a hope*
beyond hope*
During my online excavating, I discovered the Dutch word for hope is spelled hoop.
What if hope could be described as a hoop?
What if the only necessary daily intention was to place yourself securely within the hoop, a hoop called hope?
No matter the position, standing still or swirling, you are occupying the safe confines of the hoop.
You are encircled, surrounded.
Every trial and seemingly endless toil is found along the periphery of the hoop. These hard places exist and exert weight but do not negate the reality of stability and buffering of your hoop of hope.
For me, my hope is tightly affixed to my faith in God. God is the hoop circling my life and circumstances. There are times when I need other people to remind me of this hope and to stand with me when my feet wade through the ashes of disappointment, grief, and pain.
Only you can determine what type of hoop surrounds you.
Often hope is fragile, especially when it is newfound and untested. One of the root words for hope is the same word for a curve or to bend. Learning where we place our hope is the practice of curving or bending around the steadiest place to stand and it bears repeating, to be encircled.
There is a crowded cloud of witnesses who have gone before us, whose lives were etched by hope. Just as we are hemmed in on every side by hope, we can find courage from those who walked before us.
How are you bending your life towards hope?
Hope is imaginative:
it allows you to envision
what might be up ahead,
even when you see nothing.
Hope.
Imagine your way forward.
KEEP MOVING.
~Maggie Smith
May you find your hoop of hope this week.
May you keep moving towards this hoop until it completely enfolds us.
*If you are without hope or feel hope is beyond you, please reach out to a professional or someone who can help you during this time.
*You are precious and loved.
