Hugo

This is the second blog to be written for the Pinterest Challenge (which I actually just decided to call it). Wondering what it is? Read about the challenge here. And the first challenge post here.

I spend a lot of time talking about hope.
I noticed that because when I went back to make sure the title for this post wasn't going to be the same as anything I had written recently, I found more than a few on the topic.
Also, I found one from last week with that exact title.
Hope (Yeah, click on the link and read it if you haven't already).

I'm not trying to beat a dead horse into the ground, but I'm also not going to apologize for how much it comes up as a topic.
I will concede that part of the reason it has been on my mind so much lately is that the theme of the bible study unit we're wrapping up with the youth group next week is hope.

Part, but not all.

When I take the time to look - really look - at the path my life has taken up until this point, the one thing I can definitely say is that hope is embedding itself deeper and deeper into my DNA with every step I take.
Well, when I choose to let it.
Hope, as I've come to understand it, is a lot like joy in that you have to make an active decision to go after it it (or keep it once you've got it).
Really, the two go hand in hand.

There have been, and continue to be, a lot of things in my life which would lead one to abandon hope.
I've seen what seems like more than my fair share of dark nights and I do not doubt there will be more to come.
Cliched as it may be to say, but it's the circle of life, baby (as the words to the chorus from that song from The Lion King chase themselves around in my brain).

The fact is - the process of living is beautifully brutal.
The highs can be amazing.
The lows can be soul-crushing.
Sometimes what we need is to be told that the sun will rise again, and the darkness of night will end.
We need to hope for something if we are ever going to make it.

"Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise." - Victor Hugo