Hope

This month, I originally intended to write my blog on a different subject. I had it planned out. Like everything in life, and this year, things don’t/didn’t go according to plan. A few weeks ago, I was shopping, and suddenly it hit me that I needed to postpone this month’s blog, and I needed to talk about one of my favorite subjects, instead. HOPE.

Hope is my favorite word in the English language. Meriam-Webster defines hope in a few different ways; 1) to cherish a desire with anticipation; to want something to happen or be true; 2) trust; 3) to desire with expectation of obtainment or fulfillment; and 4) to expect with confidence. To me, hope is an action word. We can’t just idly sit by and wait for something to happen—we have to do something. Cherish. Desire. Want. Trust. Desire. Expect.

Growing up in a religious world, the word hope had a different meaning: “Hope is the confident expectation of and longing for the promised blessings of righteousness. The scriptures often speak of hope as anticipation of eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ. The word hope is sometimes misunderstood. In our everyday language, the word often has a hint of uncertainty….When we have hope, we trust God’s promises….With hope, we can find joy in life” (lds.org).

I love the word hope and its meaning so much, I use it in my signature. Much Love and Hope, MorganLaine. At times, I have considered taking it out of my signature, but it’s who I am. I love a hope-filled life, and I want to be known for that.

From December 1-25 I completed an Advent on Hope because I was having a rough period. Besides all that is happening in the world, 2020 has been tough on me personally. I won’t get into details, because that’s not the purpose of this blog, but 2020 has reaffirmed my belief there is always reasons to have hope. I learned/realized/recognized some things about hope during my studies, and I want to share them.

• Matthew 14:27—“ But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.” Jesus is our hope. It’s as simple as that. He came to the world to save us from ourselves. The best part: He did it whether we believe Him or not. Whether we want His forgiveness or not. He gave it freely.
• Hope is an anchor. It creates stability in the chaos we live in or create in our lives. Hope gives us a reason not to fear. Hope frees us from anxiety and fear because we know there is something better, and we can endure. Better days will come—they always have, and they always do. Hope ALWAYS comes to fruition.
• Hope is intertwined with faith and joy. When we are lacking in faith, hope is the answer. Hope is always the answer.
• Hope is contagious. Hope gives you brightness and lightens your life, even in the darkest times, and others see that light and want to share it with you. Hopefully, after you share it, they will share theirs with others.
• To have hope is courageous.
• Prayer is putting our hopes into words.
• Hope is a good gift to give someone, but it’s also the perfect gift to give someone.
• Hope lives within us, and it is a constant present we can give to ourselves and give to others.
• We take hope casually, without meaning to. “I hope you have a good day.” “I hope it’s warm tomorrow.” Sometimes, the feelings are words we say, but we just say them. Hope is not casual, and it deserves more than a passerby response to it.
• Hope often means to believe in something, even when no one else does. When the entire world seems against what you know, you still believe it to be true.
• It’s complex. Hope seems fragile and easy to understand, but there are so many layers to unravel. As we peel back those layers, we realize how resilient and strong we are.

On my birthday, a couple weeks ago, there was a meteor shower. I have been fascinated by the heavens since I was a young child. (For a brief time in high school I wanted to be an astronomer, but then I realized how much math was involved, and that it wouldn’t be the right career choice for me.) According to the American Meteor Society, “A meteor shower is a celestial event in which a number of meteors are observed to radiate, or originate, from one point in the night sky called Radiant. These meteors are caused by streams of cosmic debris called meteoroids entering Earth’s atmosphere at extremely high speeds on parallel trajectories.” Pretty cool, huh? But this one, the one that happened on my birthday, was special. The meteor shower is known as the Geminids, which can be described as, “usually the strongest meteor shower of the year and meteor enthusiasts are certain to circle December 13 and 14 on their calendars. This is the one major shower that provides good activity prior to midnight as the constellation of Gemini is well placed from 22:00 onward. The Geminids are often bright and intensely colored. Due to their medium-slow velocity, persistent trains are not usually seen. These meteors are also seen in the southern hemisphere, but only during the middle of the night and at a reduced rate.” What was particularly cool about December 14th was the moon was almost non-existent.

The meteor shower was expected to begin around 1 am. I was born at 1:22 am, so I decided to go outside at that time to watch the stars. Waiting for them to fall. It was dark. It was cold. Luckily, I live in a pretty isolated area, so the sky can be seen clearly. I have been in love with meteor showers, or shooting stars, since I was little. I always wanted to see a shooting star, and wish on it because I was sure if you wished on a star, your wish would come true. (This idea started with my love of Fievel Goes West, and the song “Somewhere Out There” I moved away from home when I was 7, and I would sing that song to my friend Chad, hoping he could hear it and know I was thinking of him.) That’s hope, and it’s been engrained in me since I was young. I still have it now. If you know me well, you know the one thing I wished for when I saw that shooting star. And then I saw another. And another. The wish has not come true yet. I don’t know if it ever will, but I am anxiously awaiting for the day it happens.

2020 has given me plenty of reasons to lose hope. I am not where I want to be career wise; a pandemic; Guido died; my brother was in the hospital; I was in a terrible roommate situation (which has since been resolved); I’ve been angry and sad; politics; and my Grandpa died on my birthday. Life happened. Life will always happen. I noticed it more this year because it all compounded, and I had no way to keep myself busy—to distract myself. I had to face life—all of it—head on. Hope was the only way I got through all that. Hope was the only way I have gotten through all the tough times in my life. There is a saying that even if today is the worst day of your life, tomorrow is a new day. You’ve survived all the bad days before; you’ll survive this one, too. I firmly believe that. I have survived some terrible things in life, but I am here; I am standing. Life has moved on, and it will continue to move on. You can’t change what happens to you, but you can change how you react to it. You can mope and be miserable, or you can look forward to tomorrow. I am choosing to look forward. I am choosing to have hope.

My grandpa is one of the biggest lessons in hope I have experienced. My dad’s dad had a terrible childhood, and his experiences caused him to be not the most pleasant dad or grandpa. One of my earliest memories of him is when I was 7—he bought me a boxed lunch with sweet tea for a drink. I took a sip and didn’t like it, but he told me I did. He made me drink the entire carton to not waste the drink. To this day, I can’t stand sweet tea. Over the next 30 years, my grandpa changed and became softer. A lot of him was still firm in who he was, but he changed for the better. I credit the change to my step-grandma Jill, who loved him fiercely and showed him the love of God. My mom says his grandchildren forced him to admit he could love. Either way, he changed. We were talking about it on Christmas—my grandpa was never a religious person, but when he died and got to Heaven, he knew God’s love. He already experienced it. That’s hope. I am not sad Grandpa Bob passed away—I know he’s in a better place. He gets to be with Jesus. How cool is that? How glorious is that? As my sister Sam posted, this was his “Temporary Home.” This is a song of heartbreak, but more importantly, it is a song of hope.  https://youtu.be/LraOiHUltak

Just like Grandpa Bob, we can all grow and change. We are supposed to live life in growth. We need to be better each and every day. If we are not bettering ourselves, then what are we here for? What is the purpose of life? And here’s the thing: even if nothing ever comes from hope, it doesn’t hurt anyone. Hope makes the world better, so I will let people hope for whatever they want (unless it’s evil or harmful), whenever they want.

When times are dark, and I feel like I can’t make it through, I rely on some hopeful words. I would like to share those words with you.

• “Riser” by Dierks Bentley.  I am a RISER. I can make it through anything. This song is powerful and proves the human spirit is resilient. I always want to have that spirit about me. https://youtu.be/xQDbjIh3_Ts
• “Prayed for You” by Matt Stell. I heard this song 3 years ago when I was in Nashville. We all pray for things—the things that are important to/for us. Those prayers may not always come to pass when or how we want them, but they will come to pass when and how they are supposed to. Part of hope is learning and growing from the things that don’t go our way. Even if we don’t always believe life we should. https://youtu.be/WEJs_Bqx8_o

• Gordon B. Hinckley has always been an example of hope and cheeriness to me. Here is a talk he gave on the subject. https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2004/04/the-dawning-of-a-brighter-day?lang=eng
• Religious leadership, who have spoken/taught about hope: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics/hope?lang=eng
• Michael J. Fox. He has been through a lot of hardship in life, but he remains happy. I am currently reading his memoir, No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality. In the book he says, “to accept what has happened in the past, to embrace the present, and to remain open to the probability that it will get better in the future.” Wise words from a wise man, who has every reason to fret but has hope. We can all learn from his example.
• At Christmas, I always listen to “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.” I love the story of hope behind it. We can always find the good if we are looking. If you don’t know the story, it can be found here: https://civilwartalk.com/threads/the-story-behind-i-heard-the-bells-on-christmas-day.5625/

I love hope. I love sharing my feelings of hope with others. I hope when I do so, I can lift others in their sadness and despair. In turn, it helps me live outside of myself—be less selfish. My hope isn’t perfect—often it falters, but I always strive to be hopeful. That’s my goal for 2021: to be more hopeful, and to share that hope with others, so they can be more hopeful. I may only be one person, but I hope the light of my hope will make the world just a little brighter.