Hope: The First Light

“In a world full of hate, be a light”

– Thomas Rhett Akins Jr.

Every day, people lose hope.  They see all that is going on with the world, or is going wrong in their lives and quietly decide it’s too much. They stop setting goals, they fail to move forward, and they wait for inspiration without creating it for themselves. Sound like someone you know? Hope is how we bring back that inspiration, especially during some of the darkest times.

Hope helps us make light out of any situation, especially challenging and difficult ones like health decline, loss, or failure. You know this. I know this, and so do our spiritual teachers. Across faith traditions, hope is a celebrated component of a positive mindset. (1) (2) Throughout history and in modern times spiritual teachers have illustrated how hope is a hallmark of our spiritual journeys, and guides us towards peace, joy, and love. (2) Let’s explore hope together!

As you read this post, take a moment to reflect:

• How does hope show up in your life?
• When things go badly, do you believe they can still serve a greater purpose?
• And when you struggle, where do you find the strength to carry on?

What Hope Is

Hope is the belief that good things are possible and that our actions can help bring them about. It is a key component of purposeful living, life satisfaction, and achieving goals because it points us towards desirable future potentials and motivates us to create a better life. (2) (3)

When we approach life with hope, challenges take on a new meaning. Obstacles feel less permanent, and problems start to look like chances to grow. Because of this, hope is the first defining strength of a HERO mindset–a term used to describe the mental habits that help people flourish. (4) (5) These positive mindsets equip people to meet challenges head-on by setting goals towards a better future (Hope), having confidence in their own abilities (Efficacy), bouncing back better from setbacks (Resilience), and expecting good things ahead (Optimism).

Practicing hope begins with a choice, but living with hope requires character. To experience the deeper benefits of a hopeful mindset, it should become a part of who you are and impact the way that you interact with others. Building enduring hope involves three key elements: (3)

• Goals (G): having something meaningful to strive toward,
• Pathways (P): identifying ways to reach those goals, and
• Sense of agency (S): believing we have the skills and motivation to take those steps.

Together, these three components act like a GPS, providing guidance while you pursue a life of purpose and helping you align your actions with a deeper spiritual health.

How Hope Shapes Spiritual Health

Hope touches every part of spiritual health: (1) (2) (5) (6) (7)

• Transcendence: As a transcendent character strength, hope expands our vision beyond the present moment, and connects us to a greater source of meaning. This can often be seen as trust for divine timing, patience for peace, or in the promise of renewal.
• Habits: Practicing hope is a daily choice that sustains inner harmony, joy, and love. Consistent practices create the pathways that make hopeful living possible.
• Relationships: Hope thrives in community. Supportive relationships offer emotional support, shared pathways for achieving goals, and remind us what’s possible.
• Identity: Hope helps us tell a story not just about who we’ve been, but who we’re becoming. Living with hope means choosing to participate in shaping that better future.
• Vocation: Purpose is a hopeful practice. It entails imagining a better future and working towards making a difference in the world beyond ourselves in meaningful ways.
• Ethics: Hope strengthens moral character by helping us do good, even when it’s hard. With hope, we’re more likely to act with courage, perspective, integrity, and compassion.

As both a mindset and a virtue, hope animates our daily lives and points us toward something greater. But beyond the science, hope is a longstanding sacred practice that can be nurtured through prayer, ritual, and community across traditions.

Hope as a Religious and Spiritual Practice

In spiritual life, hope often arises through the way we connect our deepest goals to God, the sacred, or a broader sense of meaning. (1) (2) This form of hope, called receptive hope, reflects this connection by recognizing faith as a source of hope. Receptive hope involves opening ourselves up to the idea that we are loved, guided, and entrusted with strengths through God’s presence. (8) Seeing our lives through this self-transcendent narrative grounds us in hope. This hope-filled connection happens through prayer, encouragement from a faith community, rituals that symbolize renewal, or in receiving or giving support to others through seasons of hardship. 

While hope helps us stay motivated in the pursuit of our everyday goals, it becomes especially vital during low points in life. In moments when the present is full of suffering and the future feels unclear, we need both faith and one another to persevere in hope. These are the moments when hope becomes a spiritual resource.

If you’re like me, you’ve experienced loss in your life. For me, it was as recent as this summer. When loved ones pass, it can mute the hope in our hearts. Grief can overcome people to the point of overwhelm, loneliness, and hopelessness. If you’re in a moment like this, know that it’s only a moment, and that you’re not alone. Time and faith can lift the cloud of grief and restore you with hope in life and in the afterlife. 

Even the faithful encounter moments when hope seems distant. For Christians, the crucifixion of Jesus is described as a moment when all seemed lost. And yet, hope was restored through the resurrection, which many believe is the ultimate sign that hope endures, even through death. It’s a reminder that despair is never the final word.

That brings us to Advent. 

Advent is a season of hope and holy anticipation. In Christian traditions, it marks the days and weeks leading up to the celebration of Christ’s birth on Christmas Day. It’s a sacred time with rich traditional symbols and rituals that help bring families and communities together. Through many traditions, it helps them center themselves on the virtues of hope, peace, joy, and love.

Hope is expressed most vividly in the first candle of Advent, often called the Candle of Expectation or the Prophet’s Candle. It represents light overcoming darkness, symbolizing the coming of Jesus Christ, who is called “the light of the world.” Believers are called to consider their role in spreading hope. Each candle that follows reflects a virtue central to spiritual life:

• Hope (the recognition of possibility and trust in God’s future),
• Peace (resting in the presence and promises of God),
• Joy (the soul’s response to goodness), and
• Love (the ultimate fulfillment and purpose of faith).

Together, these candles mark a spiritual journey of renewal–one that begins with hope!

Practice

So, how can we practice hope in our own lives? Use the following framework to shift towards hope as you are setting and pursuing meaningful goals. (3) (9) On paper or our worksheet:

Step 1: Set meaningful goals (G). Identify a few goals that matter most to you. It might be a personal or professional aspiration, or can be a goal for your community or spiritual life.
For example, a Christian might set a spiritual goal of deepening their prayer life during Advent with the hope of feeling more connected to God.

Step 2: Map out the pathways (P). Think of multiple routes to achieve that goal. If one path is out of reach, consider another way. If someone’s spiritual goal is to serve others as a form of hope, they might plan different pathways for doing so like volunteering at a shelter, writing letters of encouragement, or joining a community outreach program.

Step 3: Build your sense of agency (S). If you believe in your ability to achieve that goal, you will make choices that work towards it. You can build this confidence by recalling past successes or seeking encouragement from your faith community. In a religious context, someone might remember times when faith helped them overcome challenges in the past.

Step 4: Practice positive reflection. Regularly reflect on progress towards your goal and celebrate how far you’ve come. During Advent, a person might look to the light of the first candle and consider how they’ve seen hope grow.

Step 5: Stay connected to something bigger. Reflect on divine timing and relationship with God. Engage with a community or spiritual group that supports your hope and reinforces a sense of shared meaning. Joining an Advent study group or participating in communal worship can strengthen hope by reminding you that you’re part of a larger faith story.

Even when the path ahead is uncertain, you can practice hope by setting meaningful intentions, exploring new ways forward, acting with courage, leaning on others for support, and trusting that light will return with your help. Hope grows when we choose it, tend to it, and share it with others. May this season give you space to begin again, with hope and light in your heart.

Additional Resources

• The Hope Worksheet
• Hope Outside of Religion – Thrive Center
• The 10 Principles of Hope | Psychology Today
• Eight Ways You Can Feel More Hopeful—Even in Dark Times

References

1. Snyder, C. R., Sigmon, D. R., & Feldman, D. B. (2002). Hope for the sacred and vice versa: Positive goal-directed thinking and religion. Psychological Inquiry, 13(3), 234-238. Accessible at https://www.jstor.org/stable/1449340
2. Selvam, S. G., & Poulsom, M. (2012). Now and hereafter the psychology of Hope from the perspective of religion. Journal of Dharma, 37(4), 393-410.
3. Snyder, C. R. (2002). Target article: Hope theory: Rainbows in the mind. Psychological Inquiry, 13(4), 249–275. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327965pli1304_01
4. Luthans, F., Avolio, B. J., Avey, J. B., & Norman, S. M. (2007). Positive psychological capital: Measurement and relationship with performance and satisfaction. Personnel Psychology, 60(3), 541–572. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6570.2007.00083.x 
5. Donaldson, S. I., van Zyl, L. E., & Donaldson, S. I. (2022). Perma+4: A framework for work-related wellbeing, performance and Positive Organizational Psychology 2.0. Frontiers in Psychology, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.817244
6. Schwartz, C. M., Kearns, L. P., Sampo, B. L., D’Amico, C. L. J., Swanson, Z. T., Bronk, K. C., & Niemiec, R. M. (in press). Understanding the relationship between character strengths and purposeful commitments. Journal of Positive Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2025.2568835
7. Bronk, Kendall C, Hill, P. L., Lapsley, D. K., Talib, T. L., & Finch, H. (2009). Purpose, hope, and life satisfaction in three age groups. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 4(6), 500–510. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760903271439 
8. Vaughn, J. M., King, P. E., Mangan, S., Noe, S., Hay, S., O’Neil, B., Tirrell, J. M., Dowling, E. M., Iraheta Majano, G. A., & Sim, A. T. (2022). Agentic and receptive hope: Understanding hope in the context of religiousness and spirituality through the narratives of Salvadoran youth. Religions, 13(4), 376. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13040376
9. Magyar‐Moe, J. L., & Lopez, S. J. (2015). Strategies for accentuating hope. Positive Psychology in Practice, 483–502. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118996874.ch29