The Manifestation of Hope

Stephen Covey, author of the 8th Habit, writes of the four native intelligences all humans possess to a greater or lesser degree; physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. The highest manifestation of each of these intelligences are discipline, vision, passion and conscience respectively.With this in mind, I began to ponder on how hope manifests itself.

The image of the village child springs to mind; the child walking down a dusty road to a place of learning far from the crude dwelling she calls home. She is not compelled as many children might be-no, she is driven by a keen sense of hope that every lesson learn brings her one step closer to the life she sees when her eyes surrender to the weariness of the long day.That still hope fuels her next step.

The concentration camp prisoner Victor Frankl chose not to surrender to those who afflicted his body, but instead did surrender to the idea that he could choose his responses. One must wonder what Frankl based his perseverance on. History tells us of the great leaders of our time, who have paid the price with their lives.Martin Luther King who persevered in a time when for some the only good black man was a dead black man, Nelson Mandela who relinquished his moderate civilised life for a life of purported 'indecent activity, Mother Theresa for whom life could not have real meaning if it did not result in service to others. What did the souls of these, who fought vicious demons, base their perseverance on? Hope... is my guess!

Hope's highest manifestation is the perseverance of the soul who has seen a better day, who has a tangible sense of what satisfied feels like, who knows that the reality of their today dims into a pale insignificance when compared to the radiant,the incandescent promise of tomorrow. Hope gives the soul permission to keep pressing on even when all the pressing on you can has been done, and then some.Hope fires up your perseverance when the supply is ebbing away, and gives you strength to run...again!