Hope is Waking from a Dream

Sometimes you wake up and you wonder what is going on… sometimes you figure it out, sometimes you do not. Aristotle said that “Hope is a waking dream.” However, what if the dream is a nightmare, or simply just neutral… or even a wonderful dream and one’s life is bleak and dark?

If one’s life is wonderful, waking from a neutral or bad dream is hope. Yet, if one’s life is a nightmare, and the dream is good… is waking truly hope? One could argue yes in both cases, obviously the first is easy, the second, well, common sense would dictate that the dream itself is hope.

We must always remember, in either case, all is not lost. For dreams keep us alive, and in waking, we live or lives, and as long as we dream, and as long as we awaken, we live.

Today is troubling times. The economy, no matter what the economist say, is still reeling. People are still dying in Iraq and Afganistan. Genocide still exist in places like Rwanda. North Korea, who has a nuclear arsenal, continues to test fire, successfully, long range missles – as well as beef up thei rhetoric. Religions are tearing themselves apart. AT&T rigged American Idol – just kidding . However, we the people who either read this, or do not, still live, and walk in our daily lives. Do we make mistakes, of course, we are but only human, however we do have hope, for we live.

Beyond that, on a “religious” not, we have even more hope, for our trust should be in God. Do we know what is going to happen in a year… a month… a day… an hour… or even a minute… no, but God does, and in that, our hope should rest. Beyond even that, as one who believes in Christ, no matter what happens, we can rest assured that our lives are not only saved and accounted for, but also important, no matter our situation. From the highest CEO who believes, or a President who believes, or a poor priest who believes, or a mother who believes, or a poor homeless man who believes, our lives matter.

So, what is our problem? We trust in man, and we trust in ourselves… not God at times. This is not a judgement, but a simple truth. If you’re a Catholic, we must serve a penance, do good works, bow at the right times, pay indulgences. For a Protestant (hard… so many different ones), we must go to church on Sunday, we still must do good works… not for salvation, but to show it, do missionary work – evangelize, wear the right clothes, etc. If we do not do these things, at times we might be condemned, and God forbid that you sin. Yet, even sin itself has it’s on purpose – not that we should aim to sin, but sin brought us our salvation in a roundabout way through the need of Christ. The need for Christ enables mankind to live in free will, enables us to learn, and enables us to experience life. Now, this is not the optimum, but bear in mind, God new this before the foundations of the world, so do not fear, have hope, and trust in God.

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