Sometimes people love to remind me about how nonunique the name Hope is, along with how annoying it may be that my name is everywhere and one that always makes be chuckle is how it must be nice to find my name on everything. I wish my response could've been more thought out in those moments because I have never looked at my name as something be ashamed of or so easy to find that it loses its significance, but more of something to live up to. Hope is more than just a word commonly used around Christmas time or a highly gratified word in church. I see it as a legacy that I strive to live by. My favorite definition of my name is, "to cherish a desire with anticipation." When someone gets to know the depths of my heart, my desire is that I inspire those who need it and possibly be that person to lean on when no one else is around.

Some may define hope as something that is a type of unsure optimism in life. Which means hoping to make an A on a test not studied for or wishing your favorite sports team wins a record game, but biblically it is significantly different. As this holiday season surpasses us, I can't help but embellish on the great significance of the symbolism hope has during this time. A Christian's definition of hope is: "being grounded in the word of God and believing things we cannot see, but knowing God's faithfulness."

"For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one also hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it. "

Romans 8:24-25

Hope in the bible helps us realize how our life on earth is temporary and we have so much more to live for than the demands of the world. If biblically related it makes people more heavenly minded by striving to live for God and giving our life to him. Hope gives us a reason to continue to live for Christ because when we struggle and doubt extinguishing those fears is simply by staying in the Bible faithfully. Just like when Mary found out she was pregnant with a beautiful baby boy she had hope that God was going to honor her with this child and in return she ended being blessed more than she could've ever imagined. Along with hope, a real godly person will be blessed with a sense of peace because we know not to worry and joy for what is to come.

This sense of confidence is a way of reassurance for us to share with each other. My goal is that I live a lifestyle that resembles this sense of reassurance in my roots and faith with those around me. As a believer, I can show others' who are constantly seeking for something to happen that they should have faith in the concrete evidence grounded in the word of God. Everyone needs a little encouragement from time to time and the way to find that is through the hope of others' to rub off on each other.

“the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.”

1 Thessalonians 4:16-18

I may have been named after my aunt's friend, but I find pride in my name and proudly wear it as a symbol of what I HOPE to be to others'. So yes, laugh as many times as you want with the irony of how often someone may say my name in a sentence, but I strongly desire to be exactly what Jesus blessed me with. I have learned to appreciate those moments when someone get's excited about my name because they see the meaning behind it. Just like that lady at payless around thanksgiving who is actually actively involved in an organization, operation new Hope, which is about providing a new slate for families and communities to be successful. This cashier went on for ten minutes about the power of those four letters and I walked out of the store beaming with pure happiness to see such kindness still existed in the world. She is the reason I began to take so much pride in my name because is not something I should let get the best of me when people down play it, God blessed me with such a beautiful powerful name and I will continue to strive to live for it.H

Hope is not something just granted with a wish upon a star, but by the blessing born over 2,000 years ago that continues to give us meaning to our lives.