Hope is one of the Christ like attributes that I need to work on developing. The opposite of hope is discouragement. Once we let a trail bring us discouragement we decide to fail. But when we face a trail with hope, despite all conviction that reveals inevitable defeat, at that moment we win. One of my favorite stories shared in conference was when President Uchtdorf talked about his mother and the missing train containing himself and his siblings. She left for a moment to find food, and returned to find the car missing. Despite her deepest fears, she ran from car to car searching for her children. Finally, she found them. I feel like the root of most failure is the failure to hope. A lack of hope is paralyzing. We often hear President Hinckley quoted when he said that fear is the antithesis of faith. President Monson has said in several cases that fear and faith cannot coexist, because one will inevitably overpower the other. A Dutch philosopher names Baruch Spinoza (who does not have the same authority by any means, but brings up an interesting idea) said, “There is no hope unmingled with fear, and no fear unmingled with hope.” I think that hope is our first and last straw. Something to think about…
Courtney, I think we all have to work on having hope. What I find interesting is that people who don't believe in Christ can seem so confident and optimistic. I thought that they would be discouraged, but that is not the case. I think the difference is that those of us who do believe in Christ can look beyond today or tomorrow, beyond this life, and know that there is a reason to hope. For me, wanting to have hope always leads me to more scripture study, and a redoubled effort to increase my faith. Thanks for your post
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