Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary states that the meaning of hope is to cherish a desire with anticipation.    

Hope is what keeps most of us going when things get tough in our lives.  

So hope is the second link in the chain of happiness and fulfillment in our lives.

Faith is the horse; and hope is the cart.

Psychologists have come up with their own form of recipe for happiness, which is developing an attitude of gratitude, optimism, and staying out of social comparison, which leads me to believe the scriptures.   

Solomon, the son of David, who was the man after God’s own heart, said in Ecclesiastes 1:9, “What has been will be again; what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.”    

Those words of Solomon, divinely inspired some 3,000 years ago, ring true today, even more so when you read what he has to say about hope in

Proverbs 13:12, ”Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.”   

Can you see the connection?

Developing a faith leads to an understanding of who you would like to become so you do not defer anymore your actions, and your hope for what you long for starts to become a reality.  This is hope.   We have planted the seed.   Your tree is growing.   Soon it will be time to reap the harvest.