"We all have hope. Sometimes, oddly enough, we don't want to admit it--to others or to ourselves--but no matter how bad things get in our lives, we have hope. It's one of the greatest gifts that we've been given, for out of hope come all of our scientific and medical advances -- why even start trying something new if there's no hope for a successful outcome? Hope is what keeps us going on those dark, dark nights in our lives when it seems as if the sun never again will shine, but we have to give hope its due; we have to let its light shine in our lives if it's to do any good. We have to tell ourselves that things will get better, that life will radiate its beauty in our lives once more, if we but let it.
Hope never dies in us, yet often we cover its light, or we cover our ears so that we won't hear it sing its song. But that's like turning off a lamp when we most need its light, or shutting the door on a best friend when we most need company. We were created to be hopeful creatures, to look at the possibilities in the world and in ourselves, yet many of us aren't willing to do so, and we deny that there's even hope in the world, and once we deny the existence of hope, we start living dull, lightless lives that serve no one -- ourselves or those who surround us. To live is to hope, and to hope is to live.
Personally, I remember that even during my darkest depressions, I've always felt the flame of hope, no matter how tiny it seemed to be. The problem was that all of the negative thoughts that were my depression kept arguing against the hope, calling it stupid, telling me that it was unrealistic and unjustified. The hope inside of me was like the one person who is willing to stand up with a voice of reason against a mob, only to be attacked by that mob and left for dead. Thankfully, it didn't die, or I might have.
When the voice of hope speaks inside of you, listen closely. The voice of hope is the voice of God, the voice of all the wonderful people with whom we share this world, the voice of truth and reality. It's those other voices inside of you, the voices of despair and condemnation and hopelessness, that are the liars. Call them what they are, and give them no credence. It's hope that springs eternal. These other things are temporary parts of ourselves that we have to learn to reject, like someone renting our house who not only isn't paying their rent, but who's destroying the house. To restore peace and equilibrium, we have to get rid of the renter and restore the hope of better days to come."
~ C.A. Bartol
Hope never dies in us, yet often we cover its light, or we cover our ears so that we won't hear it sing its song. But that's like turning off a lamp when we most need its light, or shutting the door on a best friend when we most need company. We were created to be hopeful creatures, to look at the possibilities in the world and in ourselves, yet many of us aren't willing to do so, and we deny that there's even hope in the world, and once we deny the existence of hope, we start living dull, lightless lives that serve no one -- ourselves or those who surround us. To live is to hope, and to hope is to live.
Personally, I remember that even during my darkest depressions, I've always felt the flame of hope, no matter how tiny it seemed to be. The problem was that all of the negative thoughts that were my depression kept arguing against the hope, calling it stupid, telling me that it was unrealistic and unjustified. The hope inside of me was like the one person who is willing to stand up with a voice of reason against a mob, only to be attacked by that mob and left for dead. Thankfully, it didn't die, or I might have.
When the voice of hope speaks inside of you, listen closely. The voice of hope is the voice of God, the voice of all the wonderful people with whom we share this world, the voice of truth and reality. It's those other voices inside of you, the voices of despair and condemnation and hopelessness, that are the liars. Call them what they are, and give them no credence. It's hope that springs eternal. These other things are temporary parts of ourselves that we have to learn to reject, like someone renting our house who not only isn't paying their rent, but who's destroying the house. To restore peace and equilibrium, we have to get rid of the renter and restore the hope of better days to come."
~ C.A. Bartol
1 comment:
"The voice of hope is the voice of God".....how true :)
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