By JORDAN GREEN, Editor-in-Chief
We’ve all heard people say this lately: “This war in Ukraine is only getting worse.”
Maybe you’ve said, “I’m so worried about what’s going to happen” or “I just don’t have much hope.”
Folks, let me tell you this: Now is not the time to lose hope. In fact, it’s never time to lose hope.
Instead, it’s time to quit speaking about losing hope.
Despite what our human nature tells us, hope is real, accessible and ever-present, even in the worst situations. All of us have the ability, and the necessity, to hope.
In times such as these, hope seems distant. Maybe it doesn’t even seem real. Some people in this world may even believe in their inner beings that hope is gone.
But trust me when I tell you: It’s not. And it can be restored. Let’s talk about why this idea of “hope” is so important.
In an October 2020 story in USA Today, researchers discussed a report analyzing the physical, mental and psychological benefits of having and professing hope. They’re pretty impressive.
“Most people think about it … like the sprinkles on an ice cream, like it’s great if it’s there, but I think it’s actually fundamental to our basic wellbeing,” Nancy Colier, a psychotherapist and interfaith minister, told USA Today.
“We don’t have to think about hope in this grand macro sense that things will all work out. Maybe that’s what’s not possible. But leave room for the unknown. We don’t want to get lost in this place of, ‘it will never happen,’ because then what does that do? That takes away my taking the next right action. And sometimes that’s all we can do.”
We know that hope is important, but what exactly is it?
Dictionaries will give you a number of different definitions for it. I’m no Daniel Webster, so I’ll leave it up to his book to give you a good denotation. But I can tell you what little I know about hope.
Hope, next to love, is one of the most powerful forces in this world. Faith is the evidence of things hoped for and not yet seen. That tells us that faith is rooted in hope – and even now, we can have hope.
So, where can we find it? Sometimes, we have to look to the past for it. And with the present situation in Ukraine, the past is, believe it or not, a good place to look.
This war is not the first one our world has ever fought, and as of now, it’s nowhere near the worst. Ukrainian forces are putting up a much stronger fight than the Russians expected, and Ukraine’s leaders aren’t backing down. Their strength is inspiring and overpowering. This is good news.
Perhaps the best news in this situation is that our nation and world is finding some unity. People across America are coming together in agreement that Vladimir Putin is a vile, evil scoundrel who must be stopped. Sometimes, finding a common enemy is the best way to bring people together. We’re seeing that happen. If nothing else, I’m inspired by the hope that this situation is bringing people together.
As someone who believes in Jesus, I can also tell you that people are coming together in prayer in ways they haven’t done in years. This is cause for great joy; I believe God still answers prayers. If you believe as I do, I’d encourage you to pray, too. Prayer is, after all, the door to making hope become reality.
But whether you believe in Jesus or not, I promise you: You can find hope in this world. You can have it in your heart, too.
So, how do we find hope? And how do we get it if we don’t have any at all?
It starts with speaking positively. It’s that simple. As we go about our days, let’s say we believe goodness and peace will prevail, even if we have doubts about it.
My reasoning here is simple. When the world is bad, saying it’s bad won’t change anything. But when we say we believe it’ll get better, I’m just foolish enough to believe it can – and will. If nothing else, at least we’ll be a little more positive and optimistic. That’s a great starting place.
Even if our words don’t directly end the conflicts before us, speaking positively gives us more hope to hold onto. And in a world where everything seems to be built on shifting sands, we can find a lot of comfort in holding onto something.
When we speak about hope, we’re speaking life into this world. We need more of that.Join me today in speaking about hope. Even if you don’t have hope when you start this journey, you’ll find it somewhere down the road.