February 2012
The natural flights of the human mind are not from pleasure to pleasure, but from hope to hope. ~Samuel Johnson
Hope: to look forward to with desire and reasonable confidence
Dave hopes for time and money and perfect weather to plant and fence the 3 acre pasture he cleared this last Spring. He hopes for cows and pigs and turkeys. He hopes for sunny, rainless weekends with no wind so he can work outside and do what he enjoys. He hopes to have many more meals made entirely from our little piece of nature, like the few we had this year. Our favorite was barbequed grouse (which Dave spontaneously hunted armed with only a rock and a bit of good luck, I mean, aim), roasted potatoes, and green beans. He hopes to one day be able to live completely off the land.
Hope: the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out well
Ruthie hopes people will know her thoughts so she won’t have to talk (this is something she actually said to me, not just something I’ve inferred). I saw this evidenced one morning, early in the year, when I dropped Ruthie off at preschool. I noticed she went directly to a table, sat down, and quietly folded her hands. I watched her for a few minutes, just sitting there, when the teacher noticed her and said, “Would you like some playdough, Ruthie?” Ruthie smiled and nodded. Later, I asked Ruthie about what I saw. Apparently, it’s fairly routine for her to just sit there and wait for the playdough to appear. “Do you ever ask your teacher for the playdough?” I wondered. “No,” she replied. “I just wait and hope.” She also hopes she can have a beach party this year for her fifth birthday, something she’s been planning since the day she turned four. She hopes that when she goes to the Monster Truck show with her dad this month, she’ll get to see a truck fly and that there will be one that’s blue and black, her new favorite colors. She hopes that I’ll have endless hours with nothing to do but play with her or watch her twirl or hop on one foot or demonstrate some amazing new skill. She hopes to grow up and be “just a mommy,” and by “just” she means motherhood as her only profession.
Hope: to feel that something desired may happen
I hope to somehow find more time in my day, or to be organized enough to actually write regularly on my blog—sorry to those of you who actually read it. I hope I’m making good choices as a mom, about where to send Ruthie to school, about how much time to spend on my chores and how much to spend fulfilling Ruthie’s above mentioned hopes about how I spend my time. I hope Ruthie remembers the good times we have together and not the times I lose my patience. I hope, having now been married for a full decade, I’ve learned a little about being a good wife and that I’ll learn even more over the next ten years.
Hope: a person or thing in which expectations are centered
This Valentine’s Day, we hope that you, “being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:17-19). “Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts…” (Romans 5:5). May you find your hope in Him.
Love,
Dave, Tiffany, and Ruthie
