Hope: A Message of the Season…
Another Christmas has come and gone, and yet as 2016 passes into the rear-view mirror, it pays to remember the hope that the season brings. It’s not only a time of celebration with family, friends and relatives, but it’s a time of reflection and gratitude, and with it, a time of hope. And although some may find it a difficult and trying time, it’s the season’s message of hope that we can all gravitate towards.
Italian theologian Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) stated that “Faith has to do with things that are not seen and hope with things not at hand.” If it’s our faith that keeps us steady, then it’s our hope that keeps us going.
Hope is the great gift of better times to come. It’s seeing the distant beacon through the fog of distress. We toil and strive day by day, but it’s seeing hope on the horizon that compels us forward. Without it, our days are meaningless and empty, but with it, we nourish our souls and all is possible.
A world void of hope is a world void of optimism. When we succumb to the negative, we succumb to the impossible. We lose our ability to dream the unthinkable and believe in the achievable. Instead we bemoan our situation and lay blame where there’s no blame to lay. We lose self-belief (see Self-Belief: The Key to Personal Change…) and look to others for salvation. Freedom and independence are the early casualties of it.
Hope is a myriad of things to a myriad of people. It’s personal and private and it’s unique to each of us. One person’s hope may be another person’s dread, but it’s not for us to tell others what it is and isn’t. It’s wrong to be seduced by those thinking otherwise. Run quick when told that it’s dead – dead for whom? Perhaps it’s dead for those saying it, but it’s never dead for those harboring it. It’s the oxygen that breathes life into the great deeds of freedom-loving people everywhere.
We must be wary of those selling “hope”, for it cannot be sold. It’s not a commodity to promise. Fear goes hand-in-hand with its loss, and exploitation may be its result. Politicians of all stripes and sizes notoriously flog it, but it’s false to think that their “hope” is necessarily ours. The greatest any politician can do is ensure a free and democratic society, a society that promotes self-reliance and individual thinking. We must cherish and nurture this lest we fall into a system of profound hopelessness. Anything else is a sham; anything else is castigating a system of group-think upon those having hope.
So as we embark upon a New Year, let us retain the message that the season brings, and let us look forward to a year of health, love and hope. And it is with hope that the future is ours to behold…
Happy New Year from The Cat Principle and all the best for 2017!
For more check out the Global Ebook Awards GOLD & SILVER Winner of 2014 & 2016, The C.A.T. Principle: Change, Action, Trust – Words to Live By available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. See the latest Amazon reviews here.
Sign up above and receive this blog once every two weeks to your inbox. Comments and thoughts welcome.
A 2014 Global Ebook Awards GOLD Winner for Best Self-Help Non-Fiction Ebook.
A 2016 Global Ebook Awards SILVER Winner for Best Self-Help Non-Fiction Ebook.