Pandora's Catch

I once heard a story. There was a mortal named Pandora who had a box full of all of the negative emotions, feelings, things, and ideas. The gods had put them in a box, knowing that Pandora's curiosity might get the better of her. I don't really remember most of the story, but eventually Pandora opens the box, and all of the little demons get out and infest the world. All except for one. Pandora manages to grab one by the tail and put it back in the box. It just so happened that she grabbed the most dangerous and destructive demon of all. It was forboding.

Hope is huge. Without it, I dare say the world and the people in it would cease to be happy. Say tomorrow was going to be a bad day. It just was. And you somehow knew it, 100%. Foreboding told you. Would today even be worth living? It'd be so hard to push yourself through the day, knowing that tough times and a bad day on the morrow awaited you. But that's not the case. We have hope.

No matter the circumstance, we can hope for a better tomorrow. We can hope that our favorite lunch will be served in the cafeteria, that the girl we like will catch on, that tomorrow work will go smoothly, that soon we'll be with people we love, that the trip we've planned to California is just around the corner. Hope is what gets us through.

One of my favorite questions to ask people is, "what are you looking forward to?" I love this question, and I learned it from my mother. I've always got to have something to put my eyes on, and that's really the trick to being happy all the time. Right now I'm looking forward to the peanut butter and jelly sandwhich in my car, my date tonight with a girl, sleep, church on Sunday, my vacation in July with the family, and many more distant events and goals. Yeah, today might be tough and I'll be working from 9 AM til 11:30 PM, but I've got hope.

Hope is my favorite Christlike attribute to study. It's HUGE and so crucial to mankind. That's really what the whole gospel is, right? We have a hope in the future that we'll be saved and reunited with our loved ones. Hope isn't blind wishing, it's trust and knowledge of things to come.

Hope is simply amazing.