A Practical Roadmap for Finding and Spreading HopeNäide

Day 4 Relationships: Your amount of hope is linked to daily receiving and giving love.

There is nothing more important in life than relationships. You make daily decisions about your relationships with your friends, relatives, acquaintances, neighbors, and co-workers. You are designed to receive and give love. When relationships are not healthy, they can drain your hope. What can you do in those situations?

Here are three undervalued and often overlooked elements in every relationship:

1) Listening: Do you begin with understanding and listen with your mind, heart, ears, and eyes? This is a tough question for many extroverts. People communicate both verbally and non-verbally. You ignite hope when you humble yourself to listen well. Hope can swell when you are patient with speaking and slow to become angry. 

2) Kindness: Many cultures have money, technology, and knowledge, but there is a shortage of love in the land. Do you love your neighbor and treat others as you want to be treated? Sadly, this breaks down quickly, and we have a great need for healing and unity. We need a change of heart before there is a change of hope.

3) Forgiveness: Do you forgive everyone fully? Grace is an undeserved gift and is an expression of sacrificial love. Grace is powerful. When you let go of bitterness, resentment, and revenge, you open the door for hope and restoration. Wisdom is making good decisions in life, and forgiveness is one of the most difficult, wise, and rewarding decisions. 

Find relationships where people bring out the best in you, and there is honesty, trust, and accountability. You also have a relationship with yourself where kindness is important. I also believe (and I know there are a wide range of people from different backgrounds and worldviews) that God is kind and cares about you more than words describe.