Good Ground
Hope is a funny word. Hope is the unknown, the future, something we can’t control…it’s like wishing. It’s, “hope we have fun” or “hope it’s good news” or “hope it doesn’t rain”.
Hope is an expectation for something, such as passing a drivers test or for the food to be good at a new restaurant. Hope is not the present. When we hope for something, it is primarily something we are looking forward to doing or having. We can hope to get into a specific college or obtain a promotion we’ve applied for; hope is a promise of something better. It is our desire for something good, something to look forward to.
Most of the time hope is for something good. However, in our devilish moments, we might wish for something bad to happen to someone we are upset with or angry at, but we REALLY don’t wish harm on another person…right?!?!?
I remember as a kid, hoping for things that would make me happy. Such as, I hope we can have ice cream for dinner or I hope we can stay up late. As an adult, the things I hope for are a bit more complex but still relate to my happiness, like I hope I don’t burn dinner or I hope I get a good night’s sleep.
Honestly, as a parent, my biggest hopes revolve around my kids. I hope they are happy. I hope they remember to look ways when they cross the street. I hope they find love. I hope they never lose faith. I think in regard to my kids, my hope for them started with me and my husband being able to teach them, model for them and raise them to have some idea of what hope, faith and love look like. It was our responsibility to lay the groundwork for them to know the importance of these elements in their lives.
Our teaching actually started with our own parents, they had to model these virtues for each of us and their parents before them, and so on. It is a family tradition of sorts. It looks like this…
the gift of hope, a promise of something better in the future,
the gift of faith, trust in the unknown and
the gift of love, which endures forever.
Saint Paul in a letter to the Corinthians said the gift of hope, faith and love are the greatest gifts one can give to another. (1Corinthians 13)
This might be why this piece of scripture is read at so many marriage ceremonies. Their hope is that they are laying groundwork for a positive future together. My hope is that my husband and I have produced good ground for hope for our daughters so they can continue the tradition of passing down the greatest gifts of hope, faith and love!
