Hope is a strategy. One of the ways that we face life is the path of hope. Inevitably, we will face disappointments, setbacks, regrets, frustrations and failures. But God has given us ears to hear. Listen to the music of hope…there is music in the air. God has given us eyes to see. Open up your eyes to beauty.

I was looking out the window the other day and saw a honeysuckle vine climbing the trunk of a tree and almost reaching my second floor window. Who knew that honeysuckles grew that tall? God gave me eyes to see the delicate white flowers and the ability of smell so that I could enjoy the sweet fragrance.

God gave us hope so that we could always believe that there was something more wonderful ahead. Our miracle was waiting, just around the bend in the road in front of us. Hope gives us the encouragement to keep going, even if we do not see the object of our hopes.

Sometimes we slip backwards and say to ourselves, or to others, “This is hopeless. I’m giving up. I’m going to quit.” We become dissatisfied so easy. Giving up and quitting has  become far too easy.

Hope is such a small word, only four letters, yet we toss it around so carelessly. “I hope its sunny tomorrow.” “I hope I get the new job.” We generally associate hopefulness with wishful thinking, but hope in God is so much deeper than that.

The psalmist asked a question that I ask of you today:  what’s the problem? “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted in me? Hope thou in God…” Psalm 42:5.

The next time you find yourself defining a situation as hopeless, stop and reconsider. With the great God of the universe on your side, nothing is hopeless! Even when your plans have failed and the way seems dark, our commitment must be to hope in God.

It is springtime. Everything is growing and blooming.  Let’s also practice growing hope in our hearts. You are never defeated when your strategy is hope.