HOPE

I love myths, stories, and movies. They help us picture what the world could be like, they give us the ability to imagine things that we cannot experience. And they carry great truths. Every civilization has it's own folklore, from Greek myths, to legends, to movies, truth is passed down from generation to generation. People seem to have a need to invent stories. I've often wondered why, but recently I think I found the answer. I think it gives people hope. Gives them something to believe in when they need it the most. Allows people to imagine a world where problems are solved. Because of that, so many stories center explicitly around hope. And that's what I want to talk about today. Hope. A simple word. A complex topic. A necessity.

One of the first stories surrounding hope is the myth of Pandora's Box. A story about anger, revenge, and curiosity. The box was given to Pandora as a temptation, and curiosity led her to open it. The myth claims that when she did, every trouble and crime we know poured out of it and spread into the world. But one thing was left. When Pandora looked into the box she found hope staring up at her. Ever since then, humans have been able to hold onto hope when life looks bleak. When we are plagued with trouble, we must never release hope.

The thing I appreciate the most about this myth is that it portrays hope as something visible, even tangible. I love that. It's something we can see and we can feel and we know is there. And the effects of it are even more tangible. When hope is present, everyone can feel it. In the same way, giving it up has tangible results. Without hoping that change is possible, depression sets in. We have the choice to cling to or release hope, and the results of either choice are very real.

Another great way that a story expresses hope is through the character of Superman. In the movie Man of Steel, Lois Lane asks Superman what the "S" on his suit stands for. He replies that it is not an "S", rather it is a symbol that means hope. For many people throughout the movie, that was what Superman provided. He gave them hope of safety and a better world. People hoped in him and his abilities. Honestly, that's not a bad thing to hope in, a character who can do almost anything and is seemingly perfect. When considering what hope is, the object of that hope is important. Unfortunately for us, hoping that Superman will come to save us is rather pointless. But thankfully, we have Someone perfect and very real that should be the object of our hope. We have our own Savior that promises that all things will work together for the good of those that love God. That is what we should hope in. Romans 15:13 says "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." We should hope, we must hope, our God is the God of hope. But what we hope in makes all the difference. At the end of the day, we should be able to say "I hope in the Lord that____ will happen." By hoping in God, we can be filled with joy and peace. Hoping in something fake or nonrealistic will only bring disappointment.

One of the most recent stories that focused a lot on hope was The Last Jedi. I'll admit, I'm not a super big Star Wars fan. However, I really enjoyed the way they explained hope in one of their scenes. At one point two characters were having a discussion when they comment that Leia used to say "hope is like the sun, if you only believe in it when you can see it, you'll never make it through the night." Sometimes we can't see hope. Sometimes life can look really bleak and we can't see a way out. But we must still hope. That takes courage. When darkness surrounds us, when struggles hit us from all sides, having hope means being brave. Recently, I have been considering how easy it is to run from problems. Turning away and ignoring them, fleeing from our troubles, I've discovered that is very easy. Giving in requires no bravery. But continuing on is hard. What really requires courage is staying and fighting through it. Hope requires courage. We must believe in it even when we can't see it or else we won't make it through the night.

The last story I want to expound upon is not a myth. 
It's not a movie.
It doesn't contain a famous quote. 
It's the story of this post. 

To be honest, it took me 5 weeks to write this post. 5 weeks of full brainstorming, researching, and asking questions. I kept thinking that the post would take shape. I kept believing that one day I could finish it. Recently I told someone that I "hoped" to have it finished soon. But I finally realized I wasn't actually hoping. I discovered one more incredibly important aspect of hope.

Hope is effort.

It's not just believing, it's striving for something. It's not sitting back and waiting, it's working. That's what I lacked. And that's what I learned.

From these four stories about hope, we can finally define what hope is. It is tangible and has tangible effects, the object of hope must be worthy of hoping in, it requires bravery, and it is working toward something you want to happen. A simple word, a complicated meaning, a need.

The point I want to make is this: Hope is always necessary. It has been since the beginning of time and will continue to be. Throughout history, people have woven the theme of hope inside many stories and from each one of those stories we can learn a thing or two about what this word means. But not all of those stories have been passed down or given publicity. In fact, many stories about people clinging to hope are written every day, with every action. Hope is happening constantly inside of people’s lives. 

Right now, you are creating your own story by living your life and you are faced with a choice. Will you give up hope? Will your story be one of sadness and disappointment? Or will you cling to hope? Will you write a story that shows people what hope truly looks like? When you're faced with this choice, I implore you to choose to believe in something that has tangible effects, requires bravery and work, and needs a worthy object to be placed in. I ask that you would cling to hope. And one day, maybe it will be your story that inspires people to keep hoping.

Silence.

Fun fact: I’m an introvert.

If you know me, then you probably knew that already. Someone once told me I was really good at hiding it, but I never feel like that. I love being around friends, I love to hang out with people, but I’m pretty quiet and withdrawn when I am around anyone. And while I hate to be separated from friends for a long time, I also need time to “recharge”. To be by myself, preferably in silence. Everything around us is always rush, rush, rush. The world moves really fast and everyone is always in a hurry. And there’s always noise. But quite often it’s nice to step back and enjoy time alone. I think everyone has a need for silence. A need for everything to just be still around them for some time.

Unfortunately, silence is very difficult to find anymore. One of the reasons for that is technology. We now have speakers, headphones, iPods, and radios that are constantly blaring music at us. It seems like nobody can go anywhere without taking their noise with them. That noise can come in many forms, but I think music is the most prevalent. Just to be clear, I don’t have anything against listening to music at times, but there should be more emphasis on silence in our lives. We should have time to be alone with nothing but our thoughts.

The Washington post reports that 95% of adults have very little imagination, and imagination decreases with each year that goes by. That seems like a random statistic that has no purpose in this post, but I’m going to propose an idea. Maybe, just maybe, because of all the noise around us, because of the less time we have alone with our thoughts, the clamor of the world is leading to the decrease of our imagination. Is it possible that because we are always listening to music (or anything else) we are losing our imagination? Younger kids generally have more imagination then teenagers and adults, but now, they are also have phones and iPods and less silence. And I know, it’s a big step to say that listening to music is taking away our imagination, but I think it is very safe to say that we don’t have much time for silence in our lives and that imagination among children and adults is decreasing. I believe there is a correlation between those two things. I believe that we need silence.

When everything is quiet, we tend to dream more, we tend to think bigger thoughts about what could be. Nothing is demanding our attention, so we are able to focus on thinking. In order to make a change, we have to have the ability to see that it is possible, we have to dream of the world we could make. The lyrics in the song A Million Dreams from The Greatest Showman sum up the importance of dreaming:

“We can live in a world that we design
'Cause every night I lie in bed
The brightest colors fill my head
A million dreams are keeping me awake
I think of what the world could be
A vision of the one I see
A million dreams is all it's gonna take
A million dreams for the world we're gonna make"


We can live in a world that we design, but we have to be able to dream. We have to picture what the world could be. It takes an imagination. But in the hustle of the world around us, we get lost in the noise, it drowns out our thoughts and pushes us along. Silence is necessary. Give yourself time away from people and away from music. Make it so that you can hear yourself think. And you will cultivate imagination. Give yourself the time to dream. Clear your head of the clamor surrounding you. Even if you’re extroverted and need to be around people, silence and time alone is a good thing. It lets you think and reflect on things.


So now you know that I’m an introvert. For me, being alone sometimes is necessary. Silence is golden. It’s hard to find, but it’s valuable. It helps us think and dream of what the world could be. We need to turn off the noise. Get away from the distractions and clamor of the world around us. And let the silence envelop us.

The plain truth.

The truth will never change.

I've come to realize recently that even though our cultures, our leaders, and our beliefs change, the truth stays constant. As I began to realize this, I started writing about it. This year I decided to write a speech on truth and use it to compete in the homeschool speech and debate league that I am a part of. Hopefully, you guys will get to read that speech once I have completed it. But as I was thinking about the truth, I began pondering one of my favorite movies, The Greatest Showman. In the song This Is Me sung by Keala Settle, the lyrics communicate a powerful and moving message. I turned the lyrics over and over inside my head as I was thinking about truth until I clearly saw what was bothering me. So I want to present my thoughts to you today on the plain truth. Just the plain old truth.

I said that truth never changes, but we do. And our taste for things changes as well. Once upon a time, the Bible was practically the only book American families owned and read. Now we have so many other forms of entertainment that many families don't read their Bible together but they'll watch a TV show together. Consider how many people watched and talked about The greatest Showman. $165 million in the US and more than $217 million abroad and that was just before January 2018. That's a lot of money that people are spending to see this movie. And when they watch it, the audience hears the song This Is Me and sings along with the lyrics,

"When the sharpest words wanna cut me down
I'm gonna send a flood, gonna drown them out
I am brave, I am bruised
I am who I'm meant to be, this is me
Look out 'cause here I come
And I'm marching on to the beat I drum
I'm not scared to be seen

I make no apologies, this is me."

Inspiring isn't it? Those are powerful, motivating words. But haven't we heard them before? The messages in those lyrics have been conveyed to us for centuries. Think about the words “I am brave, I am bruised, I am who I’m meant to be, this is me.” Where in the Bible do we get the same message? 

Philippians says, “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.” That’s bravery. Romans says that “we have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God” We really are bruised, and yet Psalms tells us the we are “beautifully and wonderfully made.” We are who God meant us to be. That's just some of the lyrics that caught the attention of the world but communicated Biblical truths. And yet, the Greatest Showman got a lot more attention then the Bible does these days. Why? Well, the world doesn't want the plain truth anymore. So we had to decorate it. We added lights, choreography, a catchy tune, and Keala Settle. And boom, you have truth that people want to hear. Which sounds great right? At least people are hearing the truth. The problem is, we want it decorated and appealing. But that's not our job. We are just supposed to deliver the truth. 

You see, people didn't create truth. God did. His word is truth. And we are supposed to share it. It's like He is the chef and we are the waiter, our job is to deliver what He has prepared without messing it up. God will take care of the rest. As people begin to love decorated truth, they lose their appetite for the plain truth, even if it is good for them. We need to tell people the plain truth, they need to hear it. 

I remember hearing a story once about the magician Penn Jillette from the duo Penn and Teller. Penn is an atheist, but he made a video about a Christian who came up to him after one of his shows. This Christian handed Penn a Bible and had a conversation with him. Penn respected that. He's still an atheist, but he was touched by the fact that this man actually cared about him. He said, 

“How much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize? How much do you have to hate someone to believe everlasting life is possible and not tell them that?”

Think about those words. To not tell someone the truth about where they are headed if they don't accept Jesus means that you truly want the worst for them......for eternity. Sure, the truth is plain. Sure, most people probably don't want to hear it. But unless you hate someone, you should tell them the truth.


We are brave, we are bruised, we are who we were meant to be. Not because a song says so. Rather, because God says so. There's more, we are also His messengers, His waiters. We need to deliver the truth that He has given us. No lights or music is needed. Just the plain truth.

a choice

One word

One act of kindness

One smile

One choice…..

Can really make a difference. The life of a single person can touch thousands of lives simply because of one decision. We face such decisions every day. With everything we do we change someone else’s day, or week, or life. What can you do right now to make someone smile? How can you brighten someone’s day right now? Saying “hi” to someone might have a bigger impact than you could imagine. Asking a friend how they are doing, or what’s going on, is appreciated. Sometimes we don’t do these things because we are afraid of being judged, or looking weird, or seeming creepy. But it’s not creepy, it’s kindness. And it is powerful. Just telling someone that you are there for them shows that you care. We need to do that more often. So I have a challenge for you: try to brighten three people’s day. This could be as simple as saying hi, or as complicated as writing a letter, or just giving smile, maybe even sharing this blog could brighten my someone's day. I want you to make a difference today for three people. Use your choices to change someone's day.

One of the first times that I realized the power a choice can have was one time when I was watching my brother speak. And he told this story that captivated me and stuck with me.

There once was an old man who would walk along the beach every morning. One morning it was right after a storm had come, this storm had washed thousands of starfish up on the sand. While he was walking he came across a boy going in the opposite direction. As the boy walked he would bend down and pick up a starfish and place it back in the sea. Puzzled, the old man asked what he was doing, the boy replied that the starfish would die if not returned to the water, so he was giving them a chance to live. The old man laughed and said, “there are thousands of starfish, you won’t make any difference.”

The boy could have admitted defeat and walked away.

He could have agreed with the old man, laughed at his own foolishness, and forgotten the whole thing.

He had a choice

The boy bent down and picked up a stranded starfish in his hands and said, “I can make a difference for this one.”

And placed it in the ocean.

We have the same choice, we can make a difference for someone. Even when people point to how many depressing things there are in life, to how many people are suffering, we can spread the joy and hope, and make a difference. We can easily be like the old man, simply taking a stroll through life. Or we can look at people, see their pain, and say, "I can make a difference." That's the choice we have. A simple act of kindness or a single word, can mean the world to someone.

Rachel Scott, one of the first victims of the Columbine shooting in 1999, believed in showing compassion. She wrote a report for school titled My Ethics, My codes of Life. In it she says "I have this theory that if one person can go out of their way to show compassion, then it will start a chain reaction of the same. People will never know how far a little kindness can go."

You can start a chain reaction. You can inspire people. You can change lives. It all starts with a choice. So make life better for three people today. Your mission, if you choose to except it, is to brighten three people's day.

It all comes down to the choice you make, I hope you choose to make a difference.