Hope may float, but faith truly treads water

Hope is sort of a passive aggressive form of optimism. It's idealistic. Based on nothing other than a desire or a destiny that you have no control over. Hope is rooted in a fantasized future that you have not taken the steps to create for yourself. You just HOPE that everything will work out. You just HOPE that it will happen. You hope that it does because deep down you know you can't control whether it will or won't. You just hope so.

Faith really does all the dirty work. Faith is rooted in belief. And although those beliefs may be flawed, in and of themselves, faith is a commitment to believe. Usually faith is in something. Something unexplainable. But you work at it. You work toward it. You don't just have faith. You actively seek faith. It takes time and effort to have faith. The more you work at it, the greater your faith becomes. And I'm not just talking about faith in God or religion. Having faith in each other and yourself is equally as difficult if not more difficult.

To truly make a difference in your life, you can't just hope things are going to work out. You can't just leave it to fate and continue to "hope so." You've got to have faith. And not just have faith but build faith. The heavy lifting of life is having the faith that what you're doing is right and good. It's taking steps forward toward a goal and having the faith to firmly plant your foot on the ground and know it's the right thing to do.

So, hope it rains. Hope the Cardinals make the playoffs (even though you know they won't. Not all hope is good). But have faith in what matters the most...life.