Last week, we considered the virtue of Faith.  This week, we will consider the virtue of Hope.  The two are closely related, but they are not the same.

One way to think about it is the difference in their objects, what they attach to.  The object of faith is a person or thing we believe in and trust; while the object of Hope is the future that our faith desires.

It’s Christmas season.  I bet many of you have made lists of gifts you hope to receive.  You don’t have faith in the gifts themselves; you have faith in your parents or your grandparents; and on account of that faith, you hope for the gifts on your list.

But there is also a difference between a wish list and a hope list.  The world has largely lost the meaning of true Hope and made it almost the same as wishful thinking.  But the big difference between the two is what we might call confident expectation.

In fact, the word “hope” comes from the Old English hopa, meaning expectation or trust; and the biblical Greek word for “hope” is elpis, meaning “confident, joyful, expectation.”  Hope is not just wishing; it has a measure of certainty about the future.

With that in mind, I wonder what it is you hope for in your life.  If you had to make a Christmas hope list, what are the future things that you both desire and confidently expect will come to pass? Is it that you will become an athlete or an astronaut?  That you will one day travel the world?  Make a lot of money?  That we’ll have another snow day?

What we hope for tells us a lot about ourselves.  Not only what our heart desires, but who or what we trust in to bring it about.  So, let me encourage you to ask yourself: What do I hope for today?

And have a wonderful day.