31 Days of 5-Minute Free-Writes

Day 7: Hope

Okay, ladies. It’s Day 7 of my baby-book shower for Reflections of a Mother’s Heart, and it’s time for a game. So everyone take out your dictionaries. That’s right. Dictionaries. We are going on a word search. A dictionary may not seem a likely object to bring to a shower, but this is, after all, a book shower. 🙂

Do you have your dictionary ready? Great! Now, when I say GO, I want you to find the word hope. No cheating, because there will be a prize for the first person to stand and read the correct definition.

On your mark…

Get set…

GO!

Wow! I see a lot of people standing, but I believe this lady here in the black skirt was the first to stand. Please, will you read the definition for hope you found in your dictionary?

Sure.

Hope. noun. A desire of some good, accompanied with at least a slight expectation of obtaining it, or a belief that it is obtainable. Hope differs from wish and desire in this, that it implies some expectation of obtaining the good desired, or the possibility of possessing it. Hope therefore always gives pleasure or joy; whereas wish and desire may produce or be accompanied with pain and anxiety.¹

Thank you very much, ma’am. I’ll tell you what your prize is in a minute.

But first I want to talk briefly about this thing called hope.

Isn’t that a great definition? So often we interchange hope and wish that we have lost sight of what true hope really means. These two are not the same. I cannot hope to win the lottery because I do not play the lottery, so there is absolutely no chance on earth that I’m ever going to win. But I can hope to become a famous writer someday because I write. Granted, most people who write never become famous. But when you think about it, most people who play the lottery never win millions. They still play for the sake of the hope.

Do I write for the sake of the hope? No. I write for the sake of the calling. My Father gave me an assignment, and I am pleased to fulfill it. But the hope keeps me going.

But famous author aside, my first goal is to become a published author. And I have hope for that too. In other words, I expect that it will happen.

In our last minute together, let’s look at hope from a different angle.

Romans 5:1-5  Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed….

Hope regarding our writing is important, but the hope of eternal life should be the foundation of our writing. As for me, I write because I want to praise God for the great things He has done. He is my hope. And in Him I will never be ashamed.

Now, if I can see the lady in the black skirt…. I want to thank you for standing up and reading your definition for us. Your prize is hope. May your heart be filled to running over with hope and joy as you continue to write for God’s glory.

---

Kate Motaung, host of Five-Minute Friday, has challenged us to 31 Days of Five-Minute Free Writes, in which we will explore the telling of our story. This isn’t the first such challenge of hers, but it is the first for me. Thank you for sharing it with me.

For a list of links to all my posts for this challenge, click here.

¹Webster’s 1828 Dictionary, part of the Deluxe Library Version 8.1 of StudyLamp Software: Broken Arrow, OK, 1995-2017.