Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Hope or Hopeless?

The thought crossed my mind this morning...do I have hope?  Somewhat of a random thought, and may even be taken as depressing. I have hope in myself, or in myself accomplishing something. But, do I have hope in general?  The more I thought about this idea, the more I wondered what hope even is.  How does having hope affect me?  In my trail of questions, I decided to pray and then flip open the scriptures.

I found a verse that shed some light on my hopeless topic. (2 Nephi 31:20)

Wherefore, ye must press forward with a asteadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of bhope, and a clove of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and dendure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eeternal life.

This verse brought to me some HOPE.  Hope is something to strive for.  Hope is trusting that God will keep His promises with us.  Hope is the willingness to press forward with steadfastness not knowing the end result.  From this verse we find a blessing of being hopefully, to receive eternal life ( To life with our loving Heavenly Father again!!).

Hope is the attribute that keeps us cheering for the underdog.  I have always found enjoyment in seeing the not so victorious win one, or to see the nobody become a somebody.  Other people need us to have hope in them. 






“Being blessed with hope, let
us, as disciples, reach out to all
who, for whatever reason, have
‘moved away from the hope of
the gospel’ (Col. 1:23). Let us
reach to lift hands which hang
hopelessly down.”
– ELDER NEAL A. MAXWELL
“BRIGHTNESS OF HOPE,”
ENSIGN, NOV. 1994, 36
  







Hope lets us see the rainbow through the rainy days.  Hope gives us a happiness to look and strive forward to!  Hope makes the world a great place.  Hope allows us to see pass our circumstances or our restrictions and to reach our full potential our Heavenly Father is longing to see.

Hope in my opinion is an attribute we all to often under estimate.  Hope leads to a drive to change. Change allows us to reach to our happiness.  I invite all to take this helpful quiz found in Preach My Gospel (with a few minor changes), that helps us see if we are hopeful or hopeless....

 
-One of my greatest desires is to inherit
eternal life in the celestial kingdom of God.
(Moroni 7:41)

-I am confident that I will have a happy and
successful life. (D&C 31:3–5)

-I feel peaceful and optimistic about the
future. (D&C 59:23)


-I firmly believe that someday I will dwell
with God and become like Him. (Ether 12:4)

Do you have hope?



Hope

2 comments:

  1. that was a great post Elder Bankhead! HOPE is important to have, its healthy for us! I think it helps to movitate us to keep going when we are faced with challenges or difficulties, knowing that blessing are just right around the corner if we are willing to just keep going!

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  2. Hope is something that I strive to have in my life on a daily basis. Every day is differnt, and so sometimes it seems like I hope for different things all the time. But on thing is for sure, I hope I will do all I can in the service of God!

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