{"id":27216,"date":"2026-06-25T07:39:39","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T11:39:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=27216"},"modified":"2026-06-25T07:53:32","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T11:53:32","slug":"hope-in-hard-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=27216","title":{"rendered":"Hope in Hard Times"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Brandon Lake, Jelly Roll - Hard Fought Hallelujah (Lyrics)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/72DWAggLh4w?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Hope Is a Discipline<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p>Thursday, June 25, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Organizer and activist Mariame Kaba reflects on hope as a discipline.<\/em><em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For me, hope doesn\u2019t preclude feeling sadness or frustration or anger or any other emotion that makes total sense. Hope isn\u2019t an emotion, you know? Hope is not optimism\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The idea of hope being a discipline is something I heard from a nun many years ago who was talking about it in conjunction with making sure we were of the world and in the world. Living in the afterlife already in the present was kind of a form of escape, but it was really, really important for us to live in the world and be of the world. <strong>The hope that she was talking about was this grounded hope that was practiced every day\u2026.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I bowed down to that. I heard that many years ago, and then I felt the sense of, \u201cOh my God. That speaks to me as a philosophy of living, that hope is a discipline and that we have to practice it every single day.\u201d <strong>Because in the world we live in, it\u2019s easy to feel a sense of hopelessness, that everything is all bad all the time,<\/strong> that nothing is going to change ever\u2026. I understand why people feel that way. I just choose differently. I choose to think a different way, and I choose to act in a different way. I choose to trust people until they prove themselves untrustworthy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jim Wallis, who people know as a liberal Evangelical \u2026 talks about the fact that hope is really believing in spite of the evidence and watching the evidence change.<\/strong> And that, to me, makes total sense. I believe ultimately that we\u2019re going to win, because I believe there are more people who want justice, real justice, than there are those who are working against that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Kaba describes how short-term thinking prevents us from accessing hope:&nbsp;<\/em><em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I take a long view, understanding full well that I\u2019m just a tiny, little part of a story that already has a huge antecedent and has something that is going to come after that. I\u2019m definitely not going to be even close to around for seeing the end of it. <strong>That also puts me in the right frame of mind: that \u2026 [what] I\u2019m doing is actually pretty insignificant in world history, but if it\u2019s significant to one or two people, I feel good about that\u2026.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I talk to a lot of young organizers.\u2026 I\u2019m always telling them\u2014\u201cYour timeline is not the timeline on which movements occur. Your timeline is incidental. Your timeline is only for yourself to mark your growth and your living.\u201d But that\u2019s a fraction of the living that\u2019s going to be done by the universe and that has already been done by the universe. <strong>When you understand that you\u2019re really insignificant in the grand scheme of things, then it\u2019s a freedom, in my opinion, to actually be able to do the work that\u2019s necessary as you see it and to contribute in the ways that you see fit.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>______________________________________________________<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sarah Young<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Wait patiently with Me while I bless you. Don&#8217;t rush into My Presence with time-consciousness gnawing at your mind. <\/strong>I dwell in timelessness: I am, I was, I will always be. <strong>For you, time is a protection, you&#8217;re a frail creature who can handle only twenty-four-hour segments of<\/strong> <strong>life. <\/strong>Time can also be a tyrant, ticking away relentlessly in your mind. Learn to master time, or it will be your master.<br>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Though you are time-bound creature, seek to meet Me in timelessness. As you focus on My Presence, the demands of time and tasks will diminish. I will bless you and keep you, making My Face shine upon you graciously, giving you Peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>RELATED SCRIPTURE:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Micah 7:7 (NLT)<\/strong><br><strong>7 As for me, I look to the Lord for help.<\/strong><br><strong>&nbsp; &nbsp; I wait confidently for God to save me,<\/strong><br><strong>&nbsp; &nbsp; and my God will certainly hear me.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Revelation 1:8 (NLT)<\/strong><br><strong>8 \u201cI am the Alpha and the Omega\u2014the beginning and the end,\u201d says the Lord God. \u201cI am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come\u2014the Almighty One.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Additional insight regarding Revelation 1:8: Alpha and omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. The Lord God is the beginning and the end. God the Father is the eternal Lord and Ruler of the past, present, and future (see also Revelation 4:8; Isaiah 44:6 and 48:12-15). Without him, you have nothing that is eternal, nothing that can change your life, nothing that can save you from sin. Is the Lord your reason for living, &#8220;the Alpha and the Omega&#8221; of your life? Honor the one who is the beginning and the end of all existence, wisdom, and power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Numbers 6:24-26 (NLT)<\/strong><br><strong>24 \u2018May the Lord bless you<\/strong><br><strong>&nbsp; &nbsp; and protect you.<\/strong><br><strong>25 May the Lord smile on you<\/strong><br><strong>&nbsp; &nbsp; and be gracious to you.<\/strong><br><strong>26 May the Lord show you his favor<\/strong><br><strong>&nbsp; &nbsp; and give you his peace.\u2019<\/strong><br>Additional insight regarding Numbers 6:24-26: A blessing was one way of asking for God&#8217;s divine favor to rest upon others. The ancient blessing in these verses helps us understand what a blessing was supposed to do. Its five parts conveyed hope that God would (1) bless and protect them; (2) smile on them (be pleased); (3) be gracious (merciful and compassionate); (4) show his favor toward them (give his approval); (5) give peace. When asking God to bless others or yourself, you are asking him to do these five things. The blessing you offer will not only help the one receive it, it will also demonstrate love, encourage others, and provide a model of caring for others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hope Is a Discipline Thursday, June 25, 2026 Organizer and activist Mariame Kaba reflects on hope as a discipline. For me, hope doesn\u2019t preclude feeling sadness or frustration or anger or any other emotion that makes total sense. Hope isn\u2019t an emotion, you know? Hope is not optimism\u2026. The idea of hope being a discipline [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27216"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27216"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27216\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27219,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27216\/revisions\/27219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}