Karla’s Korner: The Reality of Hope

I am proud to introduce a new column to Madame Deals! I think we all need a touch point a place we can go to be inspired. Karla is my children’s teacher, a good friend, and a person with a heart of gold. I hope that her words will inspire you to do more. We are only as good as the people we surround ourselves with. It is important to listen with your heart and proceed with your eyes open. Enjoy!

The Reality of Hope….

Last week my husband walked through the door with a lottery ticket for the first time in nearly 10 years. As a matter of fact, he did not just buy one ticket, but five. The news of the week was the drawing for the biggest lottery payout in history and everybody was so excited about the possibility of being multi-millionaires. I chuckled and tossed the ticket on the table next to my computer giving it very little thought. Of course, when I checked the numbers the next morning (no, I did not stay up for the drawing) we were nowhere near winning the big payout. As a matter of fact, we only had two matching numbers in all five tickets. I tossed the crumpled up ticket in the trash and made plans for the coming week. Life would go on as normal and I was totally okay with that. Throughout the day many of my Facebook friends posted how disappointed they were that they did not win and how sad they were that they would have to return to work. It appeared that the “what if’s” had taken over people’s thoughts allowing them to temporarily leave the reality of life and live for the “what if’s”.

All too often we find ourselves wishing for something we do not have instead of being thankful for what we do have. Living life in the fast lane, rushing through one task just to get to the next is the “norm” for many people in todays society. What is it that drives us to not be satisfied with the here and now? What is it that makes us wish for the near impossible? Hope. Hope instills in us the belief that something better could come along. Hope tells us that we just might be able to make ends meet at the end of the week. Hope tells us that anything is possible and that it is just as possible for us to win the lottery, land that promotion or get a pay raise as it is for the next guy (or girl).

Should we have hope in our lives? Yes we should. Should we hope so much that we lose our perspective on the here and now? No we should not. But hope is good. Hope allows us to live. After discussing this theory with my daughter, Melinda, she said “without hope we are like robots. Hope makes us human.” (What a smart girl huh?). Allowing ourselves to hope and remain focused on the present is a gift that we can give to ourselves. Having hope does not mean we lose sight of reality. For instance, I have hope that one day I will be able to focus on my writing more and cut back on working away from home. However, reality tells me that I need to continue working on my writing skills until that hopeful day while I continue with my “day job”.

What is it that you hope for? Whatever it is I encourage you to hang on to that hope while you embrace the here and now. Albert Einstein once said “Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.” For me, I will plod through my everyday and live it to my best ability all the while, hoping for a bright future that will bring joy and peace.

Peace,
Karla

Check out all of Karla’s Korner articles here.

Also, please visit Karla’s Lifetime Moms page and read her articles.