Never give up.
Sometimes it seems like the world is against you. Everyone wants you to give up, let it be, move on, get over it. But some things in this world are worth fighting for, are worth defying odds for.
That doesn't necessarily mean to fight in the forefront, to make a scene, rather it means to stay in the background, be there but don't overpower. Stay strong in your faith and don't give up hope.
Maybe whatever it is that you are after won't work out, but don't give up until there is no glimpse of hope left (and even then you can be strong in your faith-driven hope).
I know this isn't very helpful or make much sense, but sometimes our world doesn't make much sense. But I know this much, we were all put on this earth for a reason and if you don't fight for what you believe in it isn't much worth living.
In times where there is no way out, I give you fight,
With love,
Hope.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
June 9, 2010 4:38 PM
If you were to lose everything you had, everyone you loved, everything you've ever known, would you be happy? It seems like a dumb question, but if you think about it if we live in the past this is what happens to us everyday.
This life is weird. We have to constantly live and constantly make a name for ourselves, but if our present and future isn't bright we are no longer considered accomplished. We are a hypocritical society in the sense that we judge based on the past but we only reward for the present and future. Our world is run on what you have already done, but if you don't keep doing it, it is all for naught.
And as bad of a society that sometimes creates this is the same way in faith. You could have been faithful every day of your life, but the second you stop everything you did in your past no longer matters. In order to be completely consumed by your faith you must actively pursue it. You don't get faith easier by having had it before, you have to fiercely attack it every minute that you live. It's really hard to not live in the past, especially living in a society based solely on the past, but when things in your life change living in a world that no longer exists does no good.
People worry and worry about the past, but in reality what does worrying accomplish? According to Matthew, worrying has no purpose, "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" (Matthew 6:27). Instead of worrying about the past we must continue to walk forward in our faith.
But as you are aware of by this point, living with faith is no easy task. You will have to run before you walk, you will fall, and you will want to give up. But each time you face the worst of circumstances your faith improves and your present becomes brighter and brighter.
Sometimes it's good to remember the good times about our past, but we must continue to fight for our future.
With love,
Hope.
This life is weird. We have to constantly live and constantly make a name for ourselves, but if our present and future isn't bright we are no longer considered accomplished. We are a hypocritical society in the sense that we judge based on the past but we only reward for the present and future. Our world is run on what you have already done, but if you don't keep doing it, it is all for naught.
And as bad of a society that sometimes creates this is the same way in faith. You could have been faithful every day of your life, but the second you stop everything you did in your past no longer matters. In order to be completely consumed by your faith you must actively pursue it. You don't get faith easier by having had it before, you have to fiercely attack it every minute that you live. It's really hard to not live in the past, especially living in a society based solely on the past, but when things in your life change living in a world that no longer exists does no good.
People worry and worry about the past, but in reality what does worrying accomplish? According to Matthew, worrying has no purpose, "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" (Matthew 6:27). Instead of worrying about the past we must continue to walk forward in our faith.
But as you are aware of by this point, living with faith is no easy task. You will have to run before you walk, you will fall, and you will want to give up. But each time you face the worst of circumstances your faith improves and your present becomes brighter and brighter.
Sometimes it's good to remember the good times about our past, but we must continue to fight for our future.
With love,
Hope.
Monday, June 7, 2010
June 7, 2010 2:08 PM
We tend to get really caught up in being perfect and being all that we can be. Unfortunately, there is only one perfection and it cannot be attained in this world. So instead of trying to attain perfection, put yourself wholeheartedly into your faith, allowing your faith to sculpt and form you.
To be honest I have no idea what the best version of myself is, but I do know that if I trust and believe in something greater than myself I will be molded by what I believe in.
Ancient philosophers had a hard time figuring out how to prove the existence of things. They argued that there exists a perfect mold of something in this world and every person is just a lesser image of this perfection. Others argued that we are as perfect as it gets and this world was created around us. But if you take a step back and look at it from the perspective of faith, we are neither. It is not our purpose to achieve perfection, however, it is our duty, our faithful patronage to help others reach a point where they are comfortable with being molded and sculpted by something greater than the self.
This is a very hard notion to comprehend, or even accept, but if you put yourself out there ready to fall, practicing active patience, then you are doing everything you can and you should be doing to live and grow in your faith.
Take a leap, take a chance, but know that you don't know what is best for you.
Live in faith, take a leap of faith,
With love,
Hope.
To be honest I have no idea what the best version of myself is, but I do know that if I trust and believe in something greater than myself I will be molded by what I believe in.
Ancient philosophers had a hard time figuring out how to prove the existence of things. They argued that there exists a perfect mold of something in this world and every person is just a lesser image of this perfection. Others argued that we are as perfect as it gets and this world was created around us. But if you take a step back and look at it from the perspective of faith, we are neither. It is not our purpose to achieve perfection, however, it is our duty, our faithful patronage to help others reach a point where they are comfortable with being molded and sculpted by something greater than the self.
This is a very hard notion to comprehend, or even accept, but if you put yourself out there ready to fall, practicing active patience, then you are doing everything you can and you should be doing to live and grow in your faith.
Take a leap, take a chance, but know that you don't know what is best for you.
Live in faith, take a leap of faith,
With love,
Hope.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
June 6, 2010 4:02 PM
What do you do when you feel like you are out of options? How do you turn the corner when you know there will be no way to retrace your steps? How do you start something new when your heart is in the old?
I don't always know how to answer those questions, but I do know that paths open and close everyday, you just have to open your heart to them. I know that in my life there have been many paths closed, bolted shut, no way to enter, only to find the door open the next day. I've also seen paths that look long and prosperous, only to be closed the next day.
So instead of searching for a path that best fits us, close your eyes and walk. Walk. Move. Try. I know it's hard, and I know it's something we sometimes don't want to do, but it's better than staying stagnant and not moving at all.
It's funny, but sometimes those paths that were shut off to you before connect up with a path you have decided to taken, and maybe at that point in time you will want to change paths, or maybe not. To be honest, none of us know what we are going to feel like tomorrow, next week, or next year. Our minds are very easily confused and manipulated. Our current feeling usually convinces our mind that we will feel like that in the upcoming days and months. But instead of listening to your brain, listen to your heart. Listen to your faith.
It is our job as beings on this earth to take every situation that is thrown at us at make the best of it, use it to prepare us for tomorrow and ultimately a greater life that awaits us. We live to serve, we live to improve, we live to better others. Just give it a shot. I'll be here with you the whole way. Just keep walking and I promise you I will do everything I can to help you get up after you fall.
I just urge you one last thing. If you see someone who is stagnant, if you see someone who needs help moving forward, help them. Call them. Stop by. Pray for them. Anything for them to know that you care in a world full of people who don't.
Love isn't lost when a new path is chosen, it is just altered, put on hold, or strengthened.
One day we will be reunited.
Move I will be right here,
Hope.
I don't always know how to answer those questions, but I do know that paths open and close everyday, you just have to open your heart to them. I know that in my life there have been many paths closed, bolted shut, no way to enter, only to find the door open the next day. I've also seen paths that look long and prosperous, only to be closed the next day.
So instead of searching for a path that best fits us, close your eyes and walk. Walk. Move. Try. I know it's hard, and I know it's something we sometimes don't want to do, but it's better than staying stagnant and not moving at all.
It's funny, but sometimes those paths that were shut off to you before connect up with a path you have decided to taken, and maybe at that point in time you will want to change paths, or maybe not. To be honest, none of us know what we are going to feel like tomorrow, next week, or next year. Our minds are very easily confused and manipulated. Our current feeling usually convinces our mind that we will feel like that in the upcoming days and months. But instead of listening to your brain, listen to your heart. Listen to your faith.
It is our job as beings on this earth to take every situation that is thrown at us at make the best of it, use it to prepare us for tomorrow and ultimately a greater life that awaits us. We live to serve, we live to improve, we live to better others. Just give it a shot. I'll be here with you the whole way. Just keep walking and I promise you I will do everything I can to help you get up after you fall.
I just urge you one last thing. If you see someone who is stagnant, if you see someone who needs help moving forward, help them. Call them. Stop by. Pray for them. Anything for them to know that you care in a world full of people who don't.
Love isn't lost when a new path is chosen, it is just altered, put on hold, or strengthened.
One day we will be reunited.
Move I will be right here,
Hope.
Saturday, June 5, 2010
June 5, 2010 5:41 PM
Forgiveness.
Perhaps the most amazing gift we have to give on this world. Our lives are anything but perfect, and yet we hold each other to such high standards that we are bound to make mistake after mistake after mistake. But when we forgive, when we ask for forgiveness, and in faith when we call for forgiveness, we can live with a clean slate, start over and have an opportunity to make everything right.
There are a lot of necessary grudges and hatred that exists in this world, simply for the fact that we are unable or unwilling to forgive. I urge you today to forgive. Tell someone you forgive them. Show someone you forgive them. Ask someone for their forgiveness. We cannot live on this earth in constant angst over what has happened to us in our past. We must look towards are faith and see who has forgiven us in the past and how we are eternally forgiven in faith.
It may not be easy, but I plead with you to forgive, ask for forgiveness, and reach out a hand to someone new today. We only live one life, make it count.
In forgiveness always,
Hope.
Perhaps the most amazing gift we have to give on this world. Our lives are anything but perfect, and yet we hold each other to such high standards that we are bound to make mistake after mistake after mistake. But when we forgive, when we ask for forgiveness, and in faith when we call for forgiveness, we can live with a clean slate, start over and have an opportunity to make everything right.
There are a lot of necessary grudges and hatred that exists in this world, simply for the fact that we are unable or unwilling to forgive. I urge you today to forgive. Tell someone you forgive them. Show someone you forgive them. Ask someone for their forgiveness. We cannot live on this earth in constant angst over what has happened to us in our past. We must look towards are faith and see who has forgiven us in the past and how we are eternally forgiven in faith.
It may not be easy, but I plead with you to forgive, ask for forgiveness, and reach out a hand to someone new today. We only live one life, make it count.
In forgiveness always,
Hope.
Friday, June 4, 2010
June 4, 2010 6:39 PM
Change.
It always seems to hit you just when you feel like everything is right. Why does this happen? Why is it that change always chooses the most inconvenient times to enter your life?
Think about it this way. If change didn't force it's way in, it would never be let in. You don't want the change, so why would you openly accept it? But change is vital to strengthening faith. Just as falling in our faith is important, change is a very vital part to maintaining and creating a strong and well-rounded person.
Yeah, change stinks sometimes. Change is down right gut-wrenching, but it is necessary. When we are at a point in our lives when we can review everything that has happened we will look back to those pivotal changes in our lives and be thankful for them. Change comes with a jolt, but a good aftertaste. Think about a sweet tart. It is sour to begin with, but ends sweet. That's basically what change is.
I can vouch for it's bad timing and hard feelings, but with my faith I know that one day I will be very glad that it happened.
Just believe, and it will all become well,
Love,
Hope.
It always seems to hit you just when you feel like everything is right. Why does this happen? Why is it that change always chooses the most inconvenient times to enter your life?
Think about it this way. If change didn't force it's way in, it would never be let in. You don't want the change, so why would you openly accept it? But change is vital to strengthening faith. Just as falling in our faith is important, change is a very vital part to maintaining and creating a strong and well-rounded person.
Yeah, change stinks sometimes. Change is down right gut-wrenching, but it is necessary. When we are at a point in our lives when we can review everything that has happened we will look back to those pivotal changes in our lives and be thankful for them. Change comes with a jolt, but a good aftertaste. Think about a sweet tart. It is sour to begin with, but ends sweet. That's basically what change is.
I can vouch for it's bad timing and hard feelings, but with my faith I know that one day I will be very glad that it happened.
Just believe, and it will all become well,
Love,
Hope.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
June 3, 2010 9:31 PM
Why live?
What does this life offer to you that is so amazing, so powerful, that it makes you keep living?
Do you live because you are scared of not living? Do you live because you are scared of the alternative? Do you live because it is all you know, what you feel like you have to be doing?
Life isn't about getting through it, or going through the motions. Life is about embracing the faith that brings beauty, heart, and love to this world. How can something so amazing as this earth be here by accident? How can people as complex, yet fragile as us live on this earth?
We tend to treat this life as if it were a race. Constantly pushing forward, rarely stopping to look around, rarely stopping to help someone who has fallen. But I challenge you to stop. Even if for a moment. Just stop. You may not be ready to turn around, to fix things in your past, to help someone up. But to start, just stop. And look. Tell me there isn't love, there isn't hope, there isn't faith in this world.
But then I challenge you to make the turn. Turn and help someone who has fallen. Turn and show your compassion, your faith, your love to someone who has fallen in this race.
But maybe life isn't about the race. Sure, people will always be running down whatever path they are placed on, but then again others decide to sit on the benches, to play in the fields, to sleep on the hills. Maybe we were put on this earth to run a race. And yet, maybe we were put on this earth to help each other reach the meadow, so they too can sleep amongst the stars, so they too can sing in the light, so they too can play in the fields.
This life isn't worth living if it isn't being lived for others.
This is your life... Are you who you want to be?
As your friend always,
Hope.
What does this life offer to you that is so amazing, so powerful, that it makes you keep living?
Do you live because you are scared of not living? Do you live because you are scared of the alternative? Do you live because it is all you know, what you feel like you have to be doing?
Life isn't about getting through it, or going through the motions. Life is about embracing the faith that brings beauty, heart, and love to this world. How can something so amazing as this earth be here by accident? How can people as complex, yet fragile as us live on this earth?
We tend to treat this life as if it were a race. Constantly pushing forward, rarely stopping to look around, rarely stopping to help someone who has fallen. But I challenge you to stop. Even if for a moment. Just stop. You may not be ready to turn around, to fix things in your past, to help someone up. But to start, just stop. And look. Tell me there isn't love, there isn't hope, there isn't faith in this world.
But then I challenge you to make the turn. Turn and help someone who has fallen. Turn and show your compassion, your faith, your love to someone who has fallen in this race.
But maybe life isn't about the race. Sure, people will always be running down whatever path they are placed on, but then again others decide to sit on the benches, to play in the fields, to sleep on the hills. Maybe we were put on this earth to run a race. And yet, maybe we were put on this earth to help each other reach the meadow, so they too can sleep amongst the stars, so they too can sing in the light, so they too can play in the fields.
This life isn't worth living if it isn't being lived for others.
This is your life... Are you who you want to be?
As your friend always,
Hope.
June 3, 2010 5:31 PM
Yesterday
We can't change the past. You may not like what the world has just thrown at you, and it may feel like your stomach and heart feel to the floor, but you can't change it. You have to accept it, you have to push through it. You have to grab ahold of faith and use it as your replacement for the world's detours.
I wish I could go back to yesterday, last week, last month, last year, but in the end I would have ended up back where I am right now. So instead of being torn by what just happened, have hope for the future and choose faith as your new life.
We all endure bumps in the road, it's how we handle them that make us who we are.
We will make it. Just believe,
Hope.
We can't change the past. You may not like what the world has just thrown at you, and it may feel like your stomach and heart feel to the floor, but you can't change it. You have to accept it, you have to push through it. You have to grab ahold of faith and use it as your replacement for the world's detours.
I wish I could go back to yesterday, last week, last month, last year, but in the end I would have ended up back where I am right now. So instead of being torn by what just happened, have hope for the future and choose faith as your new life.
We all endure bumps in the road, it's how we handle them that make us who we are.
We will make it. Just believe,
Hope.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
June 2, 2010 11:05 PM
Faith strikes again.
Don't lose faith. In the most dire of circumstances sometimes even the smallest of good news can help. Faith works in weird ways. Faith requires active patience. Faith. Takes. Time. You may not get everything you want (or faith has in store for you) at once, but eventually you will get it all.
Time. That's something else entirely. When we're young and timeless, time goes on and on without any regard for an end. As your life gets longer time starts to seem to travel more rapidly, less in your control. And yet we want everything now, fast, before anyone else. Why? Do we see life as only a few opportunities and if you miss them we have no other shot? Or is it just who we are as humans?
I see the path ahead of me as finite. I know that in a few months things will change and I will have to shift gears again. And that makes these next few months seem like the end. But in reality, it is one of many ends, one of many times when I will have to restart.
But the one constant in it all is faith. No matter how many times I must change there will always be faith by my side.
And so maybe I shouldn't look at these next few months as finite, but rather an opportunity to test my faith, to see what it's like for everything to be different than what I anticipated.
But I'm ready. You know why? Because I have faith. Because I am friends with faith, because I know faith better than I know myself.
It seems so simple, but it is so hard. Just believe. Just believe and anything can happen. Maybe what you want to happen won't, but faith wins all battles, and eventually it will win yours too.
Keep your head up. It's ok to be sad, but be sad for the sake of becoming happy in the future. Don't be stuck in doubt. Live, love, learn, hope, and have faith.
Easier said that done, but it isn't worth getting if you don't work for it.
I'll be here with you the entire way, because unlike this world, I will always be by your side.
Your friend,
Hope.
Don't lose faith. In the most dire of circumstances sometimes even the smallest of good news can help. Faith works in weird ways. Faith requires active patience. Faith. Takes. Time. You may not get everything you want (or faith has in store for you) at once, but eventually you will get it all.
Time. That's something else entirely. When we're young and timeless, time goes on and on without any regard for an end. As your life gets longer time starts to seem to travel more rapidly, less in your control. And yet we want everything now, fast, before anyone else. Why? Do we see life as only a few opportunities and if you miss them we have no other shot? Or is it just who we are as humans?
I see the path ahead of me as finite. I know that in a few months things will change and I will have to shift gears again. And that makes these next few months seem like the end. But in reality, it is one of many ends, one of many times when I will have to restart.
But the one constant in it all is faith. No matter how many times I must change there will always be faith by my side.
And so maybe I shouldn't look at these next few months as finite, but rather an opportunity to test my faith, to see what it's like for everything to be different than what I anticipated.
But I'm ready. You know why? Because I have faith. Because I am friends with faith, because I know faith better than I know myself.
It seems so simple, but it is so hard. Just believe. Just believe and anything can happen. Maybe what you want to happen won't, but faith wins all battles, and eventually it will win yours too.
Keep your head up. It's ok to be sad, but be sad for the sake of becoming happy in the future. Don't be stuck in doubt. Live, love, learn, hope, and have faith.
Easier said that done, but it isn't worth getting if you don't work for it.
I'll be here with you the entire way, because unlike this world, I will always be by your side.
Your friend,
Hope.
June 2, 2010 9:51 AM
How could it all not be real? Look outside. It may be raining, it may be sunny, it may be overcast, but whatever it is, it's amazing. This life, this world, it's real.
How do we deserve to live in a planet as beautiful as this? If there was ever proof that faith exists in this world, just look outside. Whatever pain and angst you are going through you know that faith is there to guide you along.
Throughout my life I have made the mistake of looking ahead and worrying about how I will make it in the next week, month, year, or years. It took me 19 years to realize it, but I have wasted so much of my life thinking ahead and worrying instead of enjoying what I have in front of me.
Who cares if the next 3 weeks look bleak, it can all change in a split second. There is no point in wasting your life away worrying about something out of your control.
Life can get in the way of things sometimes and you just have to roll with the punches. A lot of people who make it in this life make something out of a bad situation and with faith anything is possible.
I know sometimes it is hard to practice what you preach (and I am guilty of this) but if you help someone find their faith all of your troubles will have been worth it.
This life is about helping others realize their potential, both earthly and spiritually. I just hope and pray that one day someone new opens up their heart and listens. Maybe you will read this and this will have an impact on your life, but then again maybe it won't. These are just words on a screen... the real change may have to come from within.
Life has put me in a difficult situation but I know that with love and faith everything can work out. How do I know this? Because faith and hope is real. It's true, it's pure, and it's as beautiful as the sun outside.
I wasted too much time being nervous that I would lose those that matter to me, instead of sharing the faith and hope with them that would keep us together always.
One day we will all be reunited.
I love you all and I'm here for you in faith.
With love,
Hope.
How do we deserve to live in a planet as beautiful as this? If there was ever proof that faith exists in this world, just look outside. Whatever pain and angst you are going through you know that faith is there to guide you along.
Throughout my life I have made the mistake of looking ahead and worrying about how I will make it in the next week, month, year, or years. It took me 19 years to realize it, but I have wasted so much of my life thinking ahead and worrying instead of enjoying what I have in front of me.
Who cares if the next 3 weeks look bleak, it can all change in a split second. There is no point in wasting your life away worrying about something out of your control.
Life can get in the way of things sometimes and you just have to roll with the punches. A lot of people who make it in this life make something out of a bad situation and with faith anything is possible.
I know sometimes it is hard to practice what you preach (and I am guilty of this) but if you help someone find their faith all of your troubles will have been worth it.
This life is about helping others realize their potential, both earthly and spiritually. I just hope and pray that one day someone new opens up their heart and listens. Maybe you will read this and this will have an impact on your life, but then again maybe it won't. These are just words on a screen... the real change may have to come from within.
Life has put me in a difficult situation but I know that with love and faith everything can work out. How do I know this? Because faith and hope is real. It's true, it's pure, and it's as beautiful as the sun outside.
I wasted too much time being nervous that I would lose those that matter to me, instead of sharing the faith and hope with them that would keep us together always.
One day we will all be reunited.
I love you all and I'm here for you in faith.
With love,
Hope.
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