If you started a list right now of all the things that worry you about the world, frustration, cynicism and worst of all, discouragement, might set in. We all say the world is broken, but now it seems as if the cracks keep getting bigger, the gulfs keep getting wider and we grow farther away from each other even as we yearn, long for, and protest for the need to stay together. It all seems like it is coming apart. What the heck happened to hope?

Not love. Not faith. Hope.

Yesterday, I saw a question a child who had scribbled a question for a museum’s ‘ask about nature’ activity. It read: “What is hope and why do we need it to survive?” While I don’t remember the answer, the question struck me with a sense of urgency. What is hope and why do we need it right now?

For some hope is the archaic version of trust. But, we do seem to be short on that these days. For others it is a sense of optimism that things will work out. I think cynicism has become the new normal and pushed optimism to the wayside, but not without reason. We get burnt out, tired out and even voiced out wondering if it all makes any difference. But, think about it a little bit. Hope is an expectation a projection of planning and attitude forward into uncertainty. It is looking in the unknown for what can be known. It is putting trust in that which has not even been tested yet. Hope is meant to raise the spirit of one’s mind and soul and deliver. So, what good is hope now?

Of the trio: Faith, Hope and Love, faith gets religious quickly. Love is the most universal, but hope gets divine very quickly . . . hope in what? I’m not asking for a declaration of faith or belief. I am really asking what do you hope for? Do you hope that finally choosing the right candidate will make everything better for you? Do you hope that if you push someone aside, then you will be considered better, stronger and more competent? Do you hope that if you find the right someone, get the right job or even do certain things, the world will be alright? See, I don’t think we can afford just to hope for our ourselves. We need to hope for each other.

Even if we don’t even know what that looks like right now, take a big personal risk and hope in what you can’t see. That means choosing vulnerability with estranged or hurt friends over passiveness. It means choosing forgiveness of one’s own pride over demanding justification or victimhood when it comes to a wrong. We need hope right now because hope is what lifts love and faith forward.