Today will be better!

We have always needed hope, it is what gives us faith in the future, hoping that it will be better tomorrow.


It has often been associated with religions and at times has even had its own personification.


In Greek mythology, Elpis was the spirit of hope. She along with the other daimones were trapped in a jar by Zeus and entrusted to the care of the first woman Pandora. When she, in her curiosity, opened the vessel all of the spirits escaped except for Elpis (Hope) who alone remained to comfort mankind. Elpis was depicted as a young woman carrying flowers in her arms.


In Roman mythology, SPES, was the personification of Hope. Originally a nature goddess, she represented at first the hope of fruitful gardens and fields, then of abundant offspring, and lastly of prosperity to come and good fortune in general, being hence invoked on birthdays and at weddings. Spes was represented as a beautiful maiden in a long light robe, lifting up her skirt with her left hand, and carrying in her right a bud already closed or about to open. Sometimes she wore a garland of flowers on her head, ears of corn and poppy heads in her hand, symbolical of a prosperous harvest.




The hope I want to encourage is not a such a personification but something that should be within all of us, and it is there, always. Its just that sometimes it is very small and hard to find, but it will always be there somewhere.


All of us go though life experiences and sometimes these can reduce our hope and make it smaller. Some go though more than others. This is when hope needs boosting so that it can be made larger.


Some of us can take the knocks that life throws at us, some of us can not. It is our hope that makes us resilient and carry on, getting up the next morning and saying to ourselves 'Today will be better'.


© Thereishopenow and HOPE, 2014