Hope Is a Strategy, Mrs. Clinton

I noticed recently that a Gooseberry Lane reader had searched for an article that was posted on a now defunct blog called Ducky Persuasions that I had started (and quickly deleted) back in 2006.  The article in question was titled, "Hope Is a Strategy, Mrs. Clinton."  I searched for the piece on my home computer and eventually found it under the title, "Hope is the Foundation of a Strategy."  By either name, I am posting it here for the first time so that whoever was interested in perusing it may now do so.  Sorry for the wild goose (or would that be duck) chase.  I hope you find the article worth waiting for.

From November 2006:

Over the past week or so, some of you may have seen new footage of Senator Hillary Clinton participating in one of the many Congressional hearings I am certain she attends daily, discussion strategy for the war in Iraq.  In this particular news video, Senator Clinton was quoted as saying, "Hope is not a strategy."  Well, Mrs. Clinton, I beg to differ.  Hope is the foundation of strategy.

What exactly is hope?  The American Heritage Dictionary contains the following definitions, based on different parts of speech:

hope  v.  hoped, hoping, hopes.

--- intr.  1.  To wish for something with expectation of its fulfillment.  2.  Archaic.  To have confidence;  trust.

--- tr.  1.  To look forward to with confidence and expectation:  hoped his daughter would carry on the tradition.  2.  To expect and desire.

--- n.  1.  A wish or desire accompanied by confident expectation of its fulfillment.  2.  Something that is hoped for or desired.  3.  One that is a source of or reason for hope:  the team's only hope for victory.  4.  Archaic.  Trust;  confidence.

--- idiom.  hope against hope.  To hope with little reason or justification.

Notice how the word wish appears in the currently accepted definitions and the word trust appears int he archaic definitions (archaic, of course, meaning ancient, out-of-date, and no longer applicable).  Notice also how the definition of the idiom hope against hope refers to hope without reason or justification;  in other words, hope without a source.  This same dictionary defines wish as the desire for certain outcomes (noun) or the feeling of that desire (verb).  A wish, then, is nothing more than an emotional longing.  Sounds very similar to the aforementioned idiom:  an expectation having no source.  So...the modern-day, working definition of hope constitutes an emotional longing based on nothing?  In other words, HOPE IS WISHFUL THINKING.

But what if I return to the archaic definition of hope:  trust?  Trust is confidence in or reliance upon truth.  It is the ability to expect, with assurance, that certain outcomes can be assumed.  As the dictionary says:

Synonyms:  trust, faith, confidence, reliance, dependence.  These nouns refer to a feeling that a person or thing will not fail in performance.  Trust implies depth of assurance of such feeling, which may not always be supported by proof.

I make these kinds of assumptions every day, conditions that I believe will be true from sun up to sundown, conditions that are so basic to my existence that I don't even give them a second thought.  I certainly don't attribute then to hope (unless I really stop to meditate on it), and I certainly don't consider them wishful thinking.  What kinds of assumptions?  Foundational ones:

- I will wake up in the morning.
- I will be healthy and productive.
- I will live independently.
- My husband will return from work at the end of the day.
- I have personal rights.
- My friends and family will be safe.

The list could go on and on.  So, HOPE IS TRUST IN TRUTH.

Well, that statement just begs the question:  who's truth?  Ah, ha.  Now we get to it.  If truth is relative, hope is based on sinking sand (see My Hope is Built on Nothing Less), ergo hope is wishful thinking.  But if truth is based on immutable principles, then hope is based on a solid foundation.  What immutable principles, you ask?  Foundational ones:

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." --- Jeremiah 29:11 NIV

...but hope that is seen is not hope;  for who hopes for what he already sees?  But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it. --- Romans 8:24b-25 NASB

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. --- Hebrews 11:1 NASB

Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;  perseverance, character;  character, hope.  And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. --- Romans 5:3-5 NIV (1984)

Once I have this solid foundation from which to operated, I can create a strategy, a plan of action, with which to face life's challenges.  If my foundation is relative and constantly shifting, my strategy will exhibit these characteristics as well.  The circumstances of life shift constantly, why should I choose to set my hope in something just as shifty --- the relativity of truth.  No, I set my hope in the immutability of God and His principles.  It is the foundation of my strategy, and my life, and it works.