In my neighborhood, the large, imposing and the small, non-intimidating campaign signs have been removed from their lofty positions on our yards. I\u2019ll admit \u2013 I\u2019m pleased to pass by my neighbors\u2019 homes without \u201cjudging\u201d them one way or another based on their choice of candidate. Now, we can get back to the business of \u201cloving our neighbors\u201d without bias.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While we are still in a quandary as to the outcome of this presidential election, I wonder how those feel who invested so much into campaigning, making phone calls, spending hefty sums of money into their candidates of choice, hours upon hours knocking on doors and committing their lifelong dreams to the outcome of this election. I hope they are pleased that they gave their heart and soul to something they believed in so much. Come what may, I played the part I could play, and I voted according to my personal beliefs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ll admit my disappointment that there isn\u2019t a clear winner yet — like the presidential elections I\u2019ve witnessed in my lifetime. But, while I\u2019m disappointed, I am not without hope, because that\u2019s not where my hope lies. I\u2019m sorry for those who placed their hopes in a man or woman who they believe can turn our country into a Fantasy Island of dreams-come-true, where everyone agrees with each other and where hope springs eternal. While Americans argue about the election and its results, let’s be people who are too busy loving and caring to hate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have my hope up. Do you? I have an optimistic and positive frame of mind that God has not left us to fend for ourselves. He is still with us \u2013 guiding and directing us \u2013 if we pay attention to His presence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I play on two bocce ball league teams. Both of my teams were having a great year with losing only one game each. We knew we wouldn\u2019t get first place, but second place was in sight \u2013 until last Wednesday night\u2019s and Thursday morning\u2019s games. Both teams came with crankiness. \u201cI hate this court.\u201d \u201cOur HOA dues should take better care of these courts.\u201d \u201cMy play stinks tonight!\u201d I had had it with both teams and said \u201cAttitude determines our altitude! Let\u2019s get our hope and talk up!\u201d My admonition came too late because we lost both games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, take that to the way we live our lives daily. Are we \u201chope\u201d messengers or are we VDPs (very draining people)? Do we bring hope and great expectation to those around us? Are we hope messengers who help people feel encouraged? Do people feel more hopeful after they\u2019ve spent time with us?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the great things about getting older is getting wiser and being able to share the lessons I\u2019ve learned in life. Helping people to believe that tomorrow can be better than today is an incredible gift and can change lives in powerful ways. It\u2019s time to get our hope up and our \u201cexpectors\u201d expecting. Let\u2019s be hope messengers so others become hope messengers, too!
\u201cMay the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him\u2026.\u201d (Romans 15:13)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In my neighborhood, the large, imposing and the small, non-intimidating campaign signs have been removed from their lofty positions on our yards. I\u2019ll admit \u2013 I\u2019m pleased to pass by my neighbors\u2019 homes without \u201cjudging\u201d them one way or another based on their choice of candidate. Now, we can get back to the business of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13464,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16309,19113,13568,19114,1],"tags":[18097,1519,1210,1769,6328,1160,19107,19110,19111,39,15722,40,19105,43],"class_list":["post-13463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-election","category-get-hope-up","category-hope","category-loving-our-neighbors","category-uncategorized","tag-altitude","tag-attitude","tag-blog","tag-christian","tag-dreams-come-true","tag-election","tag-fantasy-island","tag-get-hope-up","tag-god-of-hope","tag-hope","tag-hope-messenger","tag-inspiration","tag-loving-our-neighbors","tag-optimistic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13463"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13463\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13466,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13463\/revisions\/13466"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}