Wishing, Hoping and Dreaming

We spend a lifetime using the words wishing, hoping and dreaming; did you know there is a vast difference between those three words? We wish for things we believe are unattainable, hope for things that could be within reach and dream of what might be. Is there a method to transform wishes and dreams into hopes?

Think about how we use these words. When we imagine or someone else suggests that something wonderful or totally unexpected could happen we reply, "I wish!" We don't believe in that possibility. When anyone questions what we wish for, we have to think about that for a moment; we have been taught that wishful thinking is a hopeless pursuit that benefits no one. Practical thinkers slam the door on it believing it is a foolish waste of time while others search the farthest corners of their imagination for the answer; its way out there.

But don't we all have dreams? When we dream of something we are searching at a higher level for something that seems important to us, maybe even something that seems to be lacking in our life. We reach out and allow our imagination to explore possibilities, wondering if there is a way to realize the result we desire. We are not so quick to slam the door on dreams, even the practical among us. Something way down deep within us tells us to reach out and see more than our eyes can observe, to believe that possibilities can become probabilities if only we can see the way. And so we dream and even if we believe it is an impossible dream, we explore the possibility.

Hope is an entirely different emotion. We hope for results we believe we can attain; we can 'see the reaching' and may even believe we have earned the results we are hoping for. Hope is essential to our emotional well-being. In its absence we feel alone, depressed and even desperate. We are truly are 'hopeless' and our life is a succession of disappointments and despair when we are deprived of hope.

How can we convert those wishes and dreams into hopes? There is really only one difference. Faith. Faith ignites the flames of hope, giving it wings to carry us to the conclusion we long for! Faith believes in that which cannot be seen... yet. When we allow ourselves to believe something is possible we envision it as alive and a part of our lives. We embrace the emotions and mentally live with the results before they arrive. Having faith means we believe that it can be and will be... and so it is.

We have to envision wishes and dreams and believe in them to accomplish what is important in them; faith fans the flames all the way to a new reality.