On Hope

It sometimes feels like hope is a ghost. Sometimes it is there; sometimes it is not. It is always on the edge of your vision- always on the periphery. It is as if you are more likely to feel it than to see it... and perhaps this is right and good. Still, you cannot plant desires in your own heart. You cannot plant feelings in your own heart. You cannot plant attitudes in your own heart and mind. You may want to hope... but wanting is not enough.

They say it is hard to go on without hope... and this is surely true... but we often do things we do not have good reason to do (even though good reason may exist somewhere else besides inside our own minds). People go on who seem to have no hope every day. Lord save me from my fatalism. Have mercy upon our minds and hearts, oh God.