Season of Hope – Sunday, January 02, 1983
Today the New Year spreads before us open to our hopes, dedicated to our dreams. Certainly, there are problems ahead and always will be. But we, as no other people in the history of the world, have the resources with which to overcome our difficulties and achieve our aspirations.
There is more knowledge available, more technology, more energy, more of just about everything it takes to be successful. But are we lacking a vital element essential to our success? Perhaps.
A few months ago, a national magazine conducted a poll to determine what Americans hope for most of all. Its findings were something less than inspiring. At the head of the list was, “A better or decent standard of living.” Next was, “Good health for self,” followed by, “Economic stability with no inflation.” The last thing the people surveyed hoped for was, “To be a normal, decent person.”1
Now certainly these and the other hopes listed in the survey are desirable but are they the goals and aspirations that inspire greatness? If the original disciples of Jesus had wanted a better standard of living and good health for themselves above all else, Christianity would have withered under the first hot breath of persecution.
If Shakespeare, Michelangelo, and Beethoven had aspired to nothing loftier than “economic stability,” this world would have been robbed of some of its most beautiful creations.
So, if this survey is at all typical, it points, perhaps, to a creeping malaise of mediocrity. It suggests that we’re bordering on cowardice toward life’s challenges, the fear that life’s pitfalls might keep us from living to the fullest.
Ironically, far from being the safest course to follow, this line of thinking often leads to more failure than success. As ancient King Solomon wrote, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.”2
So, let’s catch a vision of our potential and that of those around us. Let’s make our hopes equal to our ability. Let’s set stimulating, even strenuous, goals for ourselves and then demand the self-discipline to achieve them As we do, we’ll no doubt experience the better life we desire for ourselves and our children.
The future is for real, but it’s up to us to decide how we’ll deal with it.
1William Watts, “The Future Can Fend For Itself” Psychology Today, September 1981. p, 40
2Old Testament, Proverbs 29:18
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January 02, 1983
Broadcast Number 2,785