There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as if everything is a miracle.
~ Albert Einstein

One of the main reasons that we lose our enthusiasm in life is because we become ungrateful. We let what was once a miracle, become common to us. We get so accustomed to His goodness, it becomes routine.
~ Joel Osteen

Miracles. Events with astronomical odds of occurring, like oxygen turning into gold. I've longed to witness such an event, and yet I neglect that in human coupling, millions upon millions of cells compete to create life, for generation after generation until, finally, your mother loves a man, Edward Blake, the Comedian, a man she has every reason to hate, and out of that contradiction, against unfathomable odds, it's you - only you - that emerged. To distill so specific a form, from all that chaos. It's like turning air into gold. A miracle. And so... I was wrong. Now dry your eyes, and let's go home.

Socrates taught for 40 years, Plato for 50, Aristotle for 40, and Jesus for only 3. Yet the influence of Christ's 3-year ministry infinitely transcends the impact left by the combined 130 years of teaching from these men who were among the greatest philosophers of all antiquity.
~Unknown

Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and myself founded empires; but what foundation did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded an empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for Him.
~Napoleon

Pep, you would revel in this book:

Heretics, Chesterton, G.K., ISBN 978 -1480285101

or read it here.

We who are Christians never knew the great philo- sophic common sense which inheres in that mystery until the anti-Christian writers pointed it out to us. The great march of mental destruction will go on. Everything will be denied. Everything will become a creed.

It is a reasonable position to deny the stones in the street; it will be a religious dogma to assert them. It is a rational thesis that we are all in a dream; it will be a mystical sanity to say that we are all awake. Fires will be kindled to testify that two and two make four. Swords will be drawn to prove that leaves are green in summer. We shall be left defending, not only the incredible virtues and sanities of human life, but something more in- credible still, this huge impossible universe which stares us in the face. We shall fight for visible prodigies as if they were invisible. We shall look on the impossible grass and the skies with a strange courage. We shall be of those who have seen and yet have believed.

Thanks you NG.
As I drift into more advanced age, I find it even more important to maintain my optimism and my child like wonder of all the miracles around me.

Well,I buy green bananas.

I guess that makes me some sort of optimist on some level, right?

Not all hopes are alike. There are many different kinds like daily hopes � that rain won�t spoil the picnic, that the dentist will not find cavities. Or still larger hopes, for example that our children will be healthy and happy or that we will emerge from the recession and find adequate work. Or even more substantial hopes for a cure for cancer, for the well-being of our planet.

Here are still more kinds of hope. Remember most hope is good � it�s just important to understand there are different flavors of it!

1. Inborn Hope � Most children have hope, it�s their basic disposition unless adults do something to threaten it. Some people have to struggle for their hope while others seem to have it so easily. It depends on disposition.

2. Chosen Hope � This is the person with cancer who determinedly chooses to believe that treatment will be successful no matter the current outlook. It�s a parent�s right to hope for a child, even if things don�t look good at the moment. Chosen hope is a life stance.

3. Borrowed Hope � Sometimes another person sees causes for hope in your life more easily than you can. If the person is honest and trustworthy, you can borrow their confidence in you, and their hope for you.

4. Bargainer�s Hope � When a daunting challenge or crisis crashes into our life, we can take a bargainer�s position. This position says, �If I do this, then that will happen,� There�s nothing wrong with bargainer�s hope, its human nature and often a first response to something really hard.

5. Unrealistic Hope � This kind of hope belongs to teenagers who believe they could be the next Michael Jordan of basketball. Or the hope created by the promise of a certain cereal will help you lose weight and keep it off for years to come. You�re hoping for things that could happen, but it�s not probable.

6. False Hope � There are silly versions of false hope, like chain letters promising money if you send them along. Or more serious false hopes, like the ones created by nasty insurance schemes that bilk money from people. And everyday examples of false hope, such as the hope that one person, whether friend or spouse, can meet all your needs and make you happy.

7. Mature Hope � A person with this kind of hope can wait. His or her hope is not based on particular outcomes or on a belief that everything will turn out well. Mature hope is based on meaning. In other words, things are worthwhile regardless of how they turn out.

Martin Luther King Jr., took the long view when he said, �The long arm of history bends toward justice.� Mature hope is a hope that jumps in to participate in the desired outcome. It doesn�t give up easily and it can be the most fulfilling.

7. Mature Hope � A person with this kind of hope can wait. His or her hope is not based on particular outcomes or on a belief that everything will turn out well. Mature hope is based on meaning. In other words, things are worthwhile regardless of how they turn out.

Pep, your topic made me think back to something HHH said to me, about my hope becoming shackles and blinders�and I wondered, because hope seems like such a good thing, but like any good thing, can it become bad or unhealthy?

My daughter and I have been reading the �Percy Jackson� series of books. (Spoiler alert for anyone who wants to read these!) In the last book of the first series, �The Last Olympian,� Percy is given Pandora�s Box (or pithos, as it were) by Prometheus, with hope � all that was left of the original contents of the box - still inside. The myth was presented a bit different in the book � the myth most of us remember is that Pandora, given the box by Zeus, opened the box and allowed all the evils to escape into the world, but quickly shut it just before hope could escape. In �The Last Olympian,� it was presented that she didn�t shut the box to keep hope inside, but hope refused to leave mankind at its hour of greatest need. Percy was presented the box with the offer that all he had to do to stop the battle � to stop the pain and suffering of his friends � he just had to open the box and release hope.

But here�s the real question: why would the Greeks have had Zeus put hope into a box with all those other evil things?

Nietzsche said, In reality, hope is the worst of all evils, because it prolongs man's torments. A man (or woman) might continue to fight a battle that can never be won because as long as he has hope, he will continue to fight�but if that hope is distracting the man from the truth of his situation, then he�s simply living in useless misery, trapped by the illusion of hope.

Shackles and blinders, indeed.

Perhaps the difference lies in recognizing the difference between �good� hope and false hope.

Hope is indeed a wonderful thing, but only when it's real. False hope, though, can cause us to raise our expectations, in the face of incredible odds, and then turn around and crush them. My Dad was fond of saying that he was a pessimist, because if he always expected the worst, he�d never be disappointed�but there was always the chance that he could be pleasantly surprised.

I don�t really think Dad was a pessimist, though, as he bought Powerball tickets every week. In fact, he bought one about an hour before he died. But the lottery plays on false hope � yes, you may win, but the odds are so small as to be negligible.


Original here.

In that sense, #7 is more like Havel: Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense regardless of how it turns out. Part of mature hope is acceptance � we accept that things may not turn out exactly as we planned, that we can�t predict the future, but that life is worthwhile � maybe even darn near miraculous at times - no matter what happens.

And I think even �good� hope must be accompanied by action. I think that�s the essence behind the oft-quoted statement here on MB, �Plan Hope is not a Plan!� If you just sit back and �hope� for the best, then that�s no better than the pessimistic guy who sits back and does nothing because he feels that nothing he does will make a difference.

Romans 15:13 (NIV)
13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

God is the God of hope and the foundation of which hope is built. God is both the object of hope and the creator of hope. As we place our hope in God and lean not upon our own understanding, we trust God that we will find joy and peace. The more hope we find the more abundant the joy and peace. We should look for this hope through the Holy Spirit; the same one that works grace, calls out on our behalf, and gives us strength. We must give the Holy Spirit glory for securing our hope for it is something we cannot obtain through our own power.



In the autumn of 1873, Horatio Spafford, a wealthy Chicago businessman, placed his wife, Anna, and their four children on the Ville du Havre sailing from New York to France. He was forced to stay in the United States for several more weeks to settle some business matters before he could journey to join the family in Europe.

The evening of November 21 found the Ville du Havre prow-east toward France on a calm Atlantic. The journey was progressing beautifully. A few hours later, about two o�clock in the morning on November 22, the Ville du Havre was carrying its sleeping passengers over a quiet sea when two terrific claps like thunder were followed by frightening screams. The engine stopped, the ship stood still. Passageways were filled with terrified, half-dressed people shouting questions that no one could answer. The Ville du Havre had been rammed by the English vessel, the Lochearn.

Mrs. Spafford saw three of her children swept away by the sea while she stood clutching the youngest child. Suddenly, she felt her baby torn violently from her arms. She reached out through the water and caught little Tanetta�s gown. For a minute she held her again. Then the cloth wrenched from her hand. She reached out again and touched a man�s leg in corduroy trousers. She became unconscious. She awoke later, finding that she had been rescued by sailors from the Lochearn. But her four children were gone.
In the meantime, Horatio Spafford was back in the United States, desperate to receive news of his family. Finally, the blow fell. A cable arrived from Wales stating that the four daughters were lost at sea, but his wife was still alive. He was crushed with what had happened. All night he walked the floor in anguish. Toward the morning he turned to his friend, Major Whittle, and said, �I am glad to trust the Lord when it will cost me something.�

On the way across the Atlantic to join his wife, the captain announced that they were now passing the place where the Ville du Havre was wrecked. For Horatio Spafford, this was passing through the valley of the shadow of death. He sat down in his cabin on the high seas, near the place where his children perished, and wrote the hymn that would give comfort to so many, titled �It Is Well with My Soul.� [John Huffman, �The Fruit of the Spirit Is Peace,� PreachingToday.com]

We all pass through those burdensome moments of life, but God can still bring peace and joy back into our life. Through the power of the Holy Spirit Horatio Spafford was able to take a tragic moment and turn it into a song of comfort and hope for others. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.