LET'S TALK ABOUT . . .


                                                    "THE NATURE OF HOPE"


As I sit writing this blog I am able to look out over my front yard.  It is a beautiful time of year for many, especially since it looks like our summer has finally arrived in Manitoba.  After seven months of hard winter and a cooler, rainier Spring it is nice to enjoy the sunshine TODAY.  As I write those words I am keenly aware that there are many who are not feeling the same sentiment, even on the western side of the Province where rains have impacted numerous communities in terms of homes and livelihoods. 

I have a keen awareness that one person's hope may be another person's despair.  Many believe hope is relative.  One must admit there is truth in that; there is a hope that is based on numerous factors in an individual and their personal circumstances.  Is there a hope that transcends the uncertainty of transient hope.  Is there a hope that is sure?  A hope that contains elements of certainty?  I would argue for the existence of both. The difference is in the origin of the hope.  In what is each "rooted"? 

Let me illustrate.  One of this earth's constants, even in atypical years like the one we have just experienced, are the four seasons.  No matter what the nature of each of the four seasons in any given year, as illustrated in the first paragraph, we can be certain that we will have four seasons on earth each year.  There is nothing we do to cause, control or change that. We could call it "the hope of/in nature."  Some adhere to existential systems of belief based on both the certainty and uncertainty of the same.

It is no different than putting one's hope in the sun/moon/stars being a constant.  The latter was deemed so constant navigation depended on the positioning of the various constellations for directional guidance. What about gravity?  While it may be a constant here on earth, we all know that is not true in outer space.  There are limitations. spatially, to putting one's hope in the existence of gravity or any of its properties.  

We know that even as constant as these "more constant than most" entities appear, there are events that could altar the certainty of even the most certain realities.  In the final analysis even the most seasoned scientist knows that as limited finite human beings we cannot control certainty. At the core it is more a matter of what we choose to put our faith in, to trust, as certain or constant. For scientists it is empirical, for the philosopher it is existential, for the religious it is ecclesiastical, for those who embrace a spirituality it is the origin and focus of the same.  Perhaps for some it is a combination of more than one.

The question before each of us is where have we decided to seek and find our personal hope?  It is okay to embrace transient, temporal "hopes," we all do!  We are, however, living out a belief about where ultimate hope is found; even if we are not aware of it.  Have you ever thought about what your life communicates about where yours originates?  Perhaps what we choose says something about what we believe about ultimate or supreme realities.  Food for thought!

Until next time . . . this is , Just Janice!