Good Morning, digital neighbors! Happy Thursday to all! A few quotes on hope, which St. Paul says is one of the three things that last—along with faith and love. Hope is not a flimsy thing, nor a wishful thing. Hope is a trusting desire born of confidence in the Giver of the promise. Earthly hope is rooted in the wish that things will go a certain way; only time will tell. Divine hope gives us courage and confidence even when experience and our feelings tempt us to despair. It is what keeps martyrs unshaken under torture and death.

Not everyone who dies for a cause is a martyr—only those who are killed for their beliefs. Some have called suicide bombers “martyrs.” They are not. They are murderers. It is a gross misuse of the term and an attempt to reshape perceptions and elevate an evil to a good. I have never bought or believed it. Anyway, back to hope. Build your life on the promises of God, and then discern the difference between that true hope and the minor hopes of worldly affairs and outcomes.
Happy Thursday, dear neighbors!

Never let go of hope. One day you will see that it all has finally come together. What you have always wished for has finally come to be. You will look back and laugh at what has passed and you will ask yourself... 'How did I get through all of that?' — Charles L. Allen

I don't think of all the misery, but of the beauty that still remains. — Anne Frank

Hope is faith holding out its hand in the dark. — George Iles

Grape Hyacinth - Jack Kleefman - Unsplash

(My favorite flower of spring; so small, so fleeting and so powerful in its fragrance. Its humble beauty is a sign of good days to come. They are already seeding out here, they were in their prime two to three weeks ago.)