Hope's so....

The marvelous thing about hope is...that it is ever-replenishing. "Hope springs eternal" may be a cliche, but it is an apt aphorism. Hope has a way of renewing and sustaining faith. Perhaps they are cut from the same cloth? Hope is rooted more in desire and faith is rooted more in commitment. Hope looks for a certain outcome, faith accepts any outcome. It may seem, then, like we should favor faith over hope. Yet hope has its place in our lives. We are human, and we are prone to desiring...outcomes, mostly. So maybe hope is a stepping stone to faith. When we hope, we open ourselves to the possibility of faith. Surely we can arrive to faith without going through hope. Many times, though, hope helps us get through the moment. We cling to hope, because we have not let go of desire, of a certain outcome. Hope helps us survive our humanness. When we have hope, we can know that we are alive. Faith sees our hope , and calls out to it. Does hope answer, saying, yes, I am coming to you, faith? Does hope carry us to the faith that brings us home? Is that why, even when faith seems impossible, there is always hope?