WARNING: This is a no-edit zone…
These are indeed days that try men’s souls–and you know what that means for women.
We all experience trials, challenges and tough times. And we go about getting through them in a variety of ways, but to get through them at all, there is one key ingredient that must be included in the mix: hope.
We must believe that we can get through them. Otherwise, we face our trials with the absence of hope. That leaves us overwhelmed, hopeless. And hopeless, we typically don’t make an attempt to overcome anything.
We typically settle into destructive things, like looking for someone else to blame for our troubles, into resentment that we’re suffering troubles. We settle, feel put upon, forget that we had a hand in our troubles.
Our lives are not happenstance, though unforeseen incidents come to us all. But for the most part, the lives we live are a result of the choices we make.
Choices create paths. Choices carry consequences. Choices create your reality.
Once we realize that and grasp the significance, we’ve unlocked the reason we should have faith–and that reason is potent, though too often underestimated and ignored.
That reason is at any time, during any day, we can make different choices.
Different choices create a different reality. They change our path. They create an environment where our actions can cause, encourage, or foster different, more constructive reactions.
We might be another’s victim. But we can choose whether we wish to remain a victim or to reclaim ourselves and be a victim no more. The key point: we choose.
We’ve all heard the saying that so long as there is life there is hope. Some of us believe that, and some elect not to believe it. Those who do not often find themselves stuck in ruts of their own making, and ones that they just can’t seem to escape.
I’m first to admit that it’s easy to hope when things are going well and seeing reasons for hope are clearly evident. It’s when you’re in the dark tunnels, alone in the hallway of a thousand doors–all of which seem closed to you–that hope is most elusive–and most needed. And yet it is then, when there’s every reason not to hope and every sign that doing so would be foolish–illogical and emotionally insane–that if we dare to hope anyway, on sheer guts and faith, that faith unleashes its mighty power and proves to us its worth.
So if today you are facing challenges, hard times, troubles, and you see no solutions to them and no way out, pause, and dare to hope. Filled with hope, choose to seek constructive solutions, believing on faith that they exist and you will find them.
Because the simple truth is this: If you don’t, you will be stuck in a rut, in a negative cycle you can’t escape. You are condemning yourself to more of the same.
The solution might be a simple one and right before your eyes, but you won’t see it because you’re not looking for it. You won’t see it because you are choosing not to see it. Make a different choice. With a different choice you gain a different result. And that too is a choice.
Do you want more of the same or something different? Better? Something that inspires and fills you with hope and the power of faith that things can be better, that hope is justified, that you are intended to live a better life?
Hope can be buried under a ton of “reality” in your life. But hope is there, struggling and striving to crawl out from under the weight of all that negativity and all the destructive thinking that comes with troubles to keep it buried. Choose not to let that happen. Break free, liberate yourself, dare to hope and have faith that hope is justified and then seek solutions.
You will find them.★
———————————
In a lovely gesture, Nora StLaurent interviewed me today on FINDING HOPE THROUGH FICTION. She’s holding a contest for a copy of FORGET ME NOT. Please drop by for a visit. (http://psalm516.blogspot.com/2010/07/vicki-hinze-interviews-with-nora-give.html)
