living in hope

So a friend of mine has this theory that you feel more confident when you wear fun underwear. I'm not much of a dressy type of gal, so I've never really bought into the fun panties thing. But she recently convinced me to reconsider that stance on life, so I gave in and bought a few pairs of fun panties. Among the bunch I picked up a pair that have the word "HOPE" written all over them. Reminds me of being 5 or 6 and wanting to wear the ones with Disney princesses on them...

Too much information? Perhaps.

Why am I telling you this? Great question.

Because these days I am trying to live in hope. And I figured I could start with a literal translation of that life goal (Har Har Har!).

But seriously now... lately I've been thinking a lot about the idea of living in hope. Not as a groundless, idealistic, irrational idea, but as deep and life-transforming way of living.

Hope, to desire with confident expectation for that which is not yet had or seen, is something which is rather foreign to me. Hope, as my spiritual director puts it, is the opposite of worry. It is desiring or expecting good, rather than expecting and imagining all the things that could go wrong. It is the other half of a balanced, logical, rational approach to life: considering the possibilities of what could go wrong BUT ALSO allowing ourselves to consider the possibilities of how it could go well.

Hope is expecting good things to come. Worry and anxiety are expecting bad things to come. Hope is grounded in the fact that we believe in a good God who loves his children and acts for their good and his glory, not their harm. Worry and anxiety are grounded in logical questions, yes, but more deeply, a profound distrust that God is actually (a) good, (b) for us, and (c) capable.

I tend to live more in the realm of worry and anxiety. Let's be honest. But because I do believe that God is good, is for us, and is capable of acting, in recent days, I have been trying to live more in hope, even in the little things. Both tangibly and practically.

May that become more and more my mode of operation.

And no, I will not be pulling out the Disney Princesses any time soon.