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| Sunrise in Lincoln Park |
Hope is my word for 2020! Having a word for the year is a new undertaking for me. Something that I was reluctant to take up when my friend Darlene first suggested it to me. How can one little word interest and impact me for a whole year?
But as it is, in these early days of January, since its inception in my head, that one minuscule word "hope" has helped shape the moments of my day. Life is after all lived in increments of moments. I'm not saying that I'm always aware of the word, but having adopted it, like an underground water channel to shrubbery, it's been giving verdancy to my day,
Hope helps me start my day with the right perspective; hope provides excitement as I study it from a sociological, theological and literary perspective (a year-long process, I would imagine); hope gives me hope when circumstances look unpromising; hope draws me closer to God who is the ultimate source of lasting hope.
Hope, at its basic level, is a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen; the feeling that something desired can be had or will happen; or the feeling when we do not know whether something will happen or not, but want it to happen. All of us need hope in one form or another to carry on with our day, especially when life is uncertain, unhappy, or unfathomable. We should never ridicule hope of any kind, but wish for everyone to have reasons to hope. We recognize the devastation the absence of it can have on our existence.
Hope followed by the preposition for and in, I believe, are the underpinnings of our lives. In hoping for something, we find reasons to live. In hoping in something, we find strength to live. They are equal forces that cannot be separated in order for life to take off and have equilibrium, like wings to a bird. In short, the objects of our hope come to define how we live and ultimately who we are.
My wish for me and my loved ones this year is that we will have hope; and not just hope, but hope for and in objects that will shape and sustain us to live intentionally, abundantly, compassionately, and fearlessly.
What is your word for 2020?
