"Hope" Goes a Long Way

"Hope is one of the greatest gifts we have been given by our heavenly Father. It carries no price tag but its value is priceless. We cling to it when the future looks uncertain and praise it when things turn out better than we could have ever imagined. Hope is the foundation on which we build our dreams and aspirations. It has been the cornerstone upon which ordinary people have accomplished extraordinary things. Hope will always endure." Sandy Lynan Clough, Hope

The last several days I've been in a creating mode. I've been creating new bookmarks with the word "hope," one of my favorite words! Not having made any friends yet, most of my note writing will be to people I don't know. I want to put something inside my notes that will make them smile.

"Hope not only bears up the mind under sufferings but makes her rejoice in them." G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936)

"There is a story of an old man who carried a little can of oil with him everywhere he went, and if he passed through a door that squeaked, he poured a little oil on the hinges. If a gate was hard to open, he oiled the latch. And thus he passed through life lubricating all hard places and making it easier for those who came after him. People called him eccentric, queer, and cranky; but the old man went steadily on refilling his can of oil when it became empty, and oiled the hard places he found." Mrs. Charles E. Cowman, Streams in the Desert

He was bringing a little sunshine into the lives of others by doing his part. Bringing sunshine is a lot like giving hope. The oil of good cheer to the downhearted is bringing sunshine into their life. It's giving hope to one who's hopeless, that needs a little help.

"Behind the cloud the starlight lurks, Through showers the sunbeams fall;

For God, who loveth all his works Has left his hope with all!" John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892)

"The word which God has written on the brow of every man is hope." Victor Hugo (1802-1885)

"The word hope I take for faith; and indeed hope is nothing else but the constancy of faith." John Calvin (1509-1564)

What extraordinary thing will you accomplish today by giving hope to another! "Hope" goes a long way.