Silent Rays of Hope

We are always told:  ‘life is not a bed of roses’, but in response, we smile, absorb these words and move on, maybe because we never want to face a hard time or maybe because we have always been enjoying bright days. Finally, a  particular time comes when we experience ups and downs of life and realize the harsh realities as well. In fact, we all go through the times again and again when we find darkness all around and feel all abandoned. Then, we go back to old times which were so beautiful; we were safe and happy, cherishing each and every moment, completely unaware of bitter realities of life.

For example, a former prosperous businessman, who has lost everything now, must be thinking,  ‘Why did it happen only with ME?’ He recalls his old good times that adds to his sense of failure. In other words, it is a critical phase of his life when he loses hope finding his future uncertain. The loss of hope makes him dull, inefficient and unmotivated. At this crucial moment, a tiny ray  of hope may change the whole scenario for him dramatically, because this is the only thing that sustains life in true sense, just like food, water, air and sunlight keep us alive physically. In fact, hope is what inspires us to move forward because we believe that tomorrow will truly be a better day.

Now question is what it takes to be hopeful towards life? Well, in my opinion, its FAITH!! Hope and faith together teaches us that nothing is ever perfect in this world. In fact, it is unreasonable to expect everything to always go smoothly. If you hope for the best and prepare for the worst, you will be better able to handle the curve balls that life throws at you.

Fortunately, we can find hope and faith built in our support system. It is essential to have a strong support system around you. For some of us the support system is our family, while for others it may be a circle of close friends or our spiritual relationship with God. The key is to identify what our support system is, and then we need to utilize it.

We should not be afraid of asking for help because that is what a support system is there for. Sometimes, simply getting a different perspective from someone else can restore our hope in a situation. In fact, having someone dear to share our issues with, cannot only be supportive, but it can also be inspiring for us at the time of need.

Experience tells us that life is never easy for anyone, but we can meet all its challenges successfully by staying close to our support system and keeping our hopes alive .

Zahid Idrees
Sec D