Hope

Our lesson in Relief Society (womens organization at my church) was on hope. I know the word hope has political connotations right now, but that's not what I want to reference in this post. In very important ways hope is exactly what our nation needs to hear and see. I was impressed with how hope encourages action and by contrast despair causes paralysis.

Spiritually speaking we all have moments where we doubt our abilities, where we focus on the immediate and apparently negative things in our lives, and we freeze. Hope saves us from these destructive thoughts and encourages us to do good. I am always grateful to see signs that there is good being done in the world, that people are "lifting where they stand". I often fight the thought that someone else will do the work that needs to be done. Someone else will feed the hungry and generally make sure the needs of others are being met. I really liked this story. In this article a man who makes $700 a week has been able to make and serve 70,000 meals to needy individuals. It sounds like this effort has consumed a lot of his energy. It also sounds like it brings him a lot of joy. I believe that God wants us to be happy and that He knows that the best way to be happy is to serve others. I've been the recipient of the service of others my whole life and I know a little about the joys of giving back.

I believe that this principle will become more and more applicable in our future as it will take awhile for our economy to come back and for our worries to ease. We can be the hopeful person a neighbor needs to see.