Each year in May and June tens of thousand of young people walk across a stage in commencement ceremonies. These graduation formalities are at once a celebration of completion and accomplishment and at the same time a jumping off point for a new beginning. What a well-deserved time of joy and what a feeling of release and freedom it is. But—now what?

Now comes the future! As the students toss their caps high into the sky, they look upward with smiles and hearts full of hope.

What are your hopes and dreams? There are so many wonderful things in life to hope for! Do you hope to meet the right person to marry for life? Do you hope to get a great job and make a nice, comfortable living? Do you hope to have beautiful, intelligent children? Or maybe you dream of being rich and having your picture on the cover of People or Fortune magazine so everyone knows who you are. Maybe you would be satisfied with just winning the lottery.

What Is Hope?

What is hope anyway? Do we, as people, need hope? Is it good for us to hope for good things to happen to us? Is this world really a hopeful place where dreams really do come true for ordinary people? What should you and I hope for anyway?

First, let's understand what hope is. Hope is a feeling—an emotion—that what we want really will happen. Hope is very different from a wish or a misty dream because it has two very important components: One, a person filled with hope has a strong desire for something. It isn't just a hazy feeling of "oh, that would be nice." It is a strong feeling of "I want it!" Secondly, with hope there is a legitimate expectation that what you want will happen. There is an element of faith in hope.

Can you see the difference between hoping and wishing for something? For example, because of the unbelievably long odds, winning the lottery is just a wish, not really something we can hope and plan for.

To me, there is also an element of hope that you don't find in the dictionary definition. It is an element that says, "I can't do this all by myself. Someone or something else will have to help me make it happen." If you absolutely know something is going to happen, you don't have to hope for it.

Christopher Reeve, the actor who was paralyzed in a tragic accident, seems to be a person filled with hope. Although soon after his accident he wanted to give up, now he labors diligently to raise money for research about spinal cord injuries. He has a strong hope that advances in medicine will enable him to one day walk again—a simple action you and I probably take for granted. Doesn't his hope have all of the components we've discussed? He really desires for something good to happen—that he and many others will recover from paralysis. He has an expectation that, given enough time and money, scientists and medical practitioners can find a way to make it happen. And, although he works very hard, he can't do it alone. It will take lots and lots of help. I think he and his wife are excellent examples of courageous people who live their hope in spite of terrible setbacks.

The Tragedy of Hopelessness

However, it isn't like that for everyone who has suffered or had bad breaks. Do you know people who have just lost all hope? Do you know people who have given up? That is a terrible tragedy! There is a song by James Taylor that is a favorite of mine even though it isn't one of his big hits. He wrote it for a Broadway play and it's called "Millworker." It's the story of a young woman whose husband died leaving three small children for her to support. To me, the song seems to be her lament about being stuck in a job she doesn't like for the rest of her life. It's hard to convey all of the feeling without the music, but some of the lines may show you what I mean:

Millwork ain't easy. Millwork ain't hard.

Millwork, it ain't nothing but an awful boring job.

I'm waiting on a daydream, to take me through the morning,

To put me in my coffee break so I can have a sandwich and remember.

Then it's me and my machine for the rest of the morning, and the rest of the afternoon, solid gone, for the rest of my life.

This young lady has no hope of doing better. And, in fact, it has made her a little bitter. In another line she says, "I'll ride home every evening staring at my hands. Swearing to my sorrow that a young girl ought to stand a better chance."

I'm sad for her. But, by comparison, her hopelessness is nothing. How much worse is it for so many millions and millions of people in our world. Think about a young girl in a third world country forced to work all day for almost nothing. Her hope—no, it would have to be a wish—might be to someday be a millworker in a wealthy nation. It is so sad when people lose hope—don't ever lose yours.

Hope in Perspective

What should we hope for? Is there something we should hope for more than anything else? While you are thinking about hopes and dreams I would like to share some sad things to put this all in perspective.

Four times now I have been at the bedside of friends who have died in their prime. One, a very good basketball player, died in his early twenties after a tragic car wreck. Two other friends, one a talented artist and the other a successful businessman, died from disease in their early 40s. Finally, earlier this year, my cousin, Larry, died at age 50 after a lengthy battle with leukemia. No one expected Larry to die because he had had a successful bone marrow transplant and was doing so well. When I last saw Larry we all fully expected to be together at a special ceremony when he would be inducted into the sports hall of fame at McMurray University for his prowess as a golfer. Larry really hoped to be there. His hopes were dashed. I am sure you can share similar experiences. But what is the point in the context of hope?

My point is that my friends all died with unfulfilled hopes and dreams. And it happens thousands of times a day across the globe. We need to understand that we, as human beings, are all going to die someday, and our hopes and dreams in this life will die with us! So, then, are we hopeless? Should we give up? Not at all! But we must understand the following:

Real hope must go beyond this physical, temporary life! You and I need hopes and dreams that are greater than this life—hopes and dreams that will conquer death!

What Should We Base Our Hope On?

Consider a few scriptures on hope. If you want, you can find many more on the topic.

"For you are my hope, O Lord GOD; you are my trust from my youth" (Psalm 71:5).

"Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God" (Psalm 146:5).

King David, who lived his life to the full-sometimes overfull-never did anything by halves. I think that is one reason God loved David so much. But this king, mighty for his accomplishments in this life, knew where to put his hope ultimately. And it made him happy.

"'The LORD is my portion [inheritance],' says my soul, 'therefore I hope in Him!'... It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD" (Lamentations 3:24, 26).

God holds our true destiny in His right hand. We have to wait for it and, actually, we have to die a physical death to inherit it. But this awesome destiny of eternal accomplishment should be a great personal hope for you and me.

Go for It!

Set high goals. Pursue excellence relentlessly. Dream big dreams. Work to fulfill high hopes. But never lose sight that your ultimate hopes and dreams rest with God the Father and Jesus Christ and their plan for you!

Success in our too-much-is-never-enough world is hollow without God. Strive to develop and maintain a close relationship with your heavenly Father. Actively look for ways to share some of your eternal hope with those who have none and are hopeless. It is your calling! It is what leaders do—they show others the way to a better future.

The ultimate hope is that there is a resurrection from the dead to an awesome, action-packed, challenging, fulfilling eternal life as a member of the God family. You are not like James Taylor's millworker. You don't have to "swear to your sorrow that you ought to stand a better chance"—even if you are a millworker. Remain faithful to God and one day you'll say, "This life I'm living is more than I ever hoped or dreamed for."