Topic: Hope And Age

How do we instill hope in our young people? Too often, we leave young people with diminished hope for their future. Consider the importance of hope in academic performance. The good student typically says, "I hope I get an 'A'. If I do not get an 'A', I will really be disappointed." You can readily see the hope in this statement by the good student. The hope of a young person needs to be tied to the goal of working toward getting a good grade. However, hope is not an end or goal in itself. Hope is the fuel to get us going toward the goal. Consider the statement of a poor student. "There is no use. I have no hope of getting an 'A' or 'B' grade. I doubt I will even get a grade of 'C'. What's the use? There is no hope so why should I even try?" This hopeless attitude is prevalent in our schools and society today. Indeed, hope generates an attitude. Hope generates a winning attitude. The sports team that loses hope is a loser before the team plays the game. A sports team with hope is always a winner regardless of the score. How do we instill hope in our senior citizens? Too often, we leave senior citizens to fend for themselves. We automatically agree with senior citizens there is no hope for their future. Consider the life of a senior citizen in a nursing home. If aware of their surroundings, a senior citizen will say (and we will agree), "I have no hope for the future. My life is over. I cannot get out. I cannot help myself. I need people to help me do the most mundane of things." The hope of every person, especially an older person, needs to be tied to the goal or hope of going to Heaven in the distant future. In addition, the goal or hope of every person must also be tied to living each minute in the present as much as possible. For persons nearing the end of their life, just as for young people, hope is not an end or goal in itself. Hope is the fuel getting us going toward the goal of living one more day as we look forward to eternity. For all persons, hope generates an attitude. Hope generates a winning attitude no matter what our age or station in life.

If these words have been a blessing to you please forward them to a friend.

These words were posted at one of Shepherd's Care Ministries Sites called Wisdom Moment. This site is located at:
http://www.shepherdscare.net/wisdomminute

Shepherd's Care Ministries Main Site located at:
http://www.shepherdscare.net/