Lisa notes

Don’t confuse hope with optimism.

While they are similar, hope is not the same thing as optimism.

Optimism is a general attitude that positive things will happen in our lives, come what may. While hope can also include that attitude, hope is more specific. Hope is typically based on belief in abilities. And hope leads to actions based on that belief.

Consider this scenario:

A University of Kansas psychologist, C.R. Snyder, asked a group of college students:

“Although you set your goal of getting a B in a class, after your first exam, which accounts for 30% of your grade, you find you only scored a D. It is now one week later. What do you do?”

The students’ answers depended on their levels of hope.

• Those who had high levels of hope said they would do more work to improve their final grade.
• Students with moderate levels of hope also thought of things they could do, but they weren’t likely to do them.
• But students with low levels of hope? They lacked imagination of any way to improve their grade. They surrendered to the D.

In real-life situations, Snyder found that levels of hope could more accurately predict freshman students’ first semester grades than their SAT scores.

Hope matters.

Hope determines our ability to persevere instead of giving up. Hope determines our next step.

The more hope we have, the more likely we’ll take action and succeed.

Researchers say that hope is a learned concept. Even if hope doesn’t come naturally, we can learn to hope. If we missed out on being raised in an atmosphere of hope, it’s never too late to pick it up.

For Christ-followers, our hope need not come from trusting our own abilities. Our hope is securely based on our belief in God’s abilities to deliver what he promises, which includes equipping us with what we need.

So to increase our hope, we grow our faith in God and in what he can and will do.

Then with increased hope, we’ll take increased actions. 

To practice hope, look for God. See him in nature, in scripture, in people, in experiences. Watch for ways he is at work.

Then exercise hope by following him there.

The more you hope, the more you’ll move.

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Are you optimistic by nature? Pessimistic? I tend to ride the middle. Do you see a difference between optimism and hope? Please share in the comments.

This is my month of Practicing Hope.

He is the God of hope.

He fills you with joy, with peace.

Let hope overflow.

It’s by his power, not yours.

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This is Day 10 of Practicing Hope.

We can’t always choose our circumstances.

But we can choose our character and our attitude and our motivations.

May we choose to respond to our situations from a foundation of hope, not from an undercurrent of fear.

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This is day 8 of Practicing Hope.

When you’re scared to get your hopes up, remember this truth about God’s power and goodness.

[Download the square image here]

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This is Day 6 of Practicing Hope. It goes along with Day 5:

• When Hope Feels Dangerous
  Why we should continue to practice hope, even when it feels dangerous.

All the posts are here.

Do you have a favorite scripture about hope? Please share in the comments.

Is Hope Dangerous?

Hope can feel dangerous. What if we hope, and then reality turns out differently?

Hoping only for a specific outcome or by a specific deadline actually is not a safe way to practice hope.

As we’ve all discovered, our future almost always looks different than what we had originally hoped for.

But different doesn’t mean bad. Different doesn’t have to be faith-crushing.

• Often the circumstance turns out better than what we could have imagined (that’s God’s speciality, Ephesians 3:20).
• And even if it results in what we label “worse,” we can discover God’s grace still hasn’t abandoned us. We learn to see him in new ways and through different people (that’s another of his superpowers, too, Lamentations 3:22-23).

Only hope placed in God’s goodness is totally secure, not hope in an exact result nor within a certain time period.

When we place our hope in God, that he will care for us in ways we can see and in ways we can’t see, we release the outcome into his hands.

“And That’s the Thing About Hope”

These quotes below are by Shaka Senghor. Shaka was imprisoned for shooting and killing a man. He served 19 years in prison in Michigan. He could have rejected hope for the future because of his past.

But hope is unchained by God to roam free in each of our lives. Hope isn’t imprisoned by our past. Hope illuminates our future by redefining our present with confidence.

Read this excerpt from Shaka’s book, Writing My Wrongs: Life, Death, and Redemption in an American Prison. And if you have time, read the whole book. You’ll find hope for yourself there, too. [See more quotes here in my book review—Writing My Wrongs was one of my top 10 books of 2016.]

“And that’s the thing about hope. In the moment when you feel it, it can seem foolish or sentimental or disconnected from reality. But hope knows that people change on a timeline that we can’t predict.

We can never know the power that a word of kindness or an act of forgiveness will have on the person who needs it most.

What I now know is that my life could have had many outcomes; that it didn’t need to happen the way it did. I was once an angry, lost teenager holding a community hostage to fear and greed. Thousands of youth are making the same mistakes every day.

But we weren’t born that way. None of our children are born that way. And when they get that way, they aren’t lost for good.

That’s why I’m asking you to envision a world where men and women aren’t held hostage to their pasts, where misdeeds and mistakes don’t define you for the rest of your life. In an era of record incarcerations and a culture of violence, we can learn to love those who no longer love themselves.

Together, we can begin to make things right.”

Shaka Senghor discusses his book, “Writing My Wrongs: Life, Death, and Redemption in an American Prison” at the 2016 L.A. Times Festival of Books.

Practice Hope This Way

Ask yourself today what makes you afraid to hope. (Personally, I’m afraid of being disappointed.)

Whatever your reasons, dig deeper into them. Ask God to reveal the lie you are believing. (My lie? That if my expectations aren’t met, God’s goodness won’t be enough to compensate.)

The more we learn to practice safe hope—hope in God, not in a specific outcome—the sooner we can lose our fear of hoping.

Hope isn’t dangerous. Hope is good.

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Are you too often afraid to get your hopes up? What do you fear? Please share in the comments.

See More:

• Hope for Far More {Scripture Image}
  When you’re afraid to hope, remember this truth about God’s power. It’s far more than you can imagine. Download Ephesians 3:20 graphic.

This is Day 5 of my series, Practicing Hope. See all the posts here. I’m participating in #Write28Days with Anita.