Hope Focuses On Possibilities

Daily headlines can be so devastating. They can plunge our spirits into the vast, all encompassing darkness of the deepest reaches of a coal mine. The light of hope seems elusive with so few good or uplifting events headlining the news. Yet one tiny flicker of light is all that is necessary to focus our thoughts on the vast array of possibilities in any endeavor on which we yearn to embark. That flicker of light is called hope.

What does hope mean to you when you hear the word? What images does it conjure up in your mind? Is it the encouragement of doctors when you are given a difficult prognosis? Is it seeing a stranger lifting up a bombing victim and carrying her to medical help? Is it a child running with joy to a cat in an animal shelter as he spots his new best furry friend?

 Hope focuses on the future. Hope urges our souls to look at potential, even if we are unaware of that simple childlike focus within us. Hope fueled the efforts of the engineers designing the first rocket for the first manned space launch way before it became a possibility, much less a reality. Hope is as simple as enduring winter in anticipation of  the first buds on an apple tree linked with the anticipation of biting into the first apple. Hope is as exciting as watching your grandchild build a sandcastle on a beach while watching the incoming tide and hoping it will not reach his masterpiece.

Think of all of the instances we risk negatives while keeping focused on the possibilities.

What story can you tell a discouraged person about a risk you took while intently eyeing the possibilities? Is it a focus that inspired hope and moved you forward rather than keeping you in the bondage of never having attempted to succeed?

How might you inspire a person to focus on their situation’s potential? The situation does not have to be monumental. It could be as simple as encouraging an elderly person to watch birds flitting to and fro or encouraging a post surgical patient to attempt a few steps to look at life beyond their four walls.  It could be eliciting a child’s courage to rebuild his tower of blocks that dashed his joy as the tumbled down around him.

Today and every day offer someone, as well as yourself, the hope of possibility. The flame of possibilities burns in our souls, but sometimes it is close to being extinguished. Fan the flame of potential in your life and the lives of others today. Possibilities pursued in the past have yielded realities that have changed our world for the better.

 How will your possibility change your world or the world around you? Begin today!