HOPE IS CONTAGIOUS–PASS IT ON!

Hope is looking forward with great expectations. Hope is a belief of good things to come in a person's life circumstances, situations, and experiences. Hope is where the heart resides in love of family and fellowship with friends and wherever it is found, it is contagious.

We hope for material things and financial success; and we hope for the things that money cannot buy, such as a brighter future for our children and their children, love, peace, joy and good health. Sometimes we're not even sure what it is we are hoping for; we just know we long for something better in the days, weeks and months ahead.

I could not imagine a life without hope. The fact is, we all need to possess an attitude of hope, for hope is what pulls each of us forward through this journey we call life and keeps us going when the road gets long and painful. How sad and how dreary it would be to live having no hope, and yet we all probably know someone who is struggling right now and has little or no hope.

When we meet someone like this, we need to make it our mission and purpose to bring hope into their situation, for hope is actually something we can easily give to others. Giving a simple smile, sharing our enthusiasm, optimism and faith, or speaking a word of encouragement can go a long way towards helping another person to become more hopeful. It's so easy to let those around us know there is still hope when we take the time to share with them the beauty of nature or a humorous story or a time when we have triumphed over a difficult experience of our own. And as we share our hope with those around us, hope will spread like a wildfire flamed by the winds of persistence, confidence and trust.

I hope you have hope today. If you don't, I encourage you to find someone you can talk to that does. If you do have hope, do not let the busyness of the season rob you of the joy of sharing the hope that is within you, for you know how contagious hope can be! So go ahead-pass it on!