Hope

What is hope? I have thought about this a lot and hope is a pretty broad subject I think. But after watching the last general conference Elder Steven E. Snow gave a talk on hope and basically said what I had thought in an understandable matter. "Hope is an emotion which brings richness to our everyday lives. It is defined as “the feeling that … events will turn out for the best.” When we exercise hope, we “look forward … with desire and reasonable confidence”(1). As such, hope brings a certain calming influence to our lives as we confidently look forward to future events." - Elder Steven E. Snow. He said that sometimes we hope for things which we have no control over such as the weather, or for our favorite sports team to win, or where a deceased loved one will go after this mortal life. Some of these hopes make our lives interesting, and sometimes lead us to unusual and sometimes funny behavior. Others give us comfort for what will happen to our loved ones. He also said that sometimes we hope for things that we do have control over, such as doing well in school or playing on a winning team. These hopes can also lead us to unusual and sometimes funny behavior as well. Such as a student doing homework, studying and not procrastinating their work. "In the gospel of Jesus Christ, hope is the desire of His followers to gain eternal salvation through the Atonement of the Savior." Steven E. Snow then said "This is truly the hope we must all have." and I couldn't agree more. As we have hope in The Atonement we have faith in Jesus Christ. In the gospel hope is practically always related to charity and faith. Dieter F. Uchtdorf has taught: “Hope is one leg of a three-legged stool, together with faith and charity. These three stabilize our lives regardless of the rough or uneven surfaces we might encounter at the time”(2). I couldn't have explained it better. I know that when we have faith in God and Jesus Christ and give charity God will work everything out for us.

1. (dictionary.reference.com/browse/hope)
2. (“The Infinite Power of Hope,” Liahona and Ensign, Nov. 2008, 21)