Hope

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, General Conference, Saturday Morning Session, October 4, 2008

Elder Uchtdorf spoke about hope. He began by mentioning several attributes of hope. The first, hope has the power to fill our lives with happiness. Without it, our hearts can actually become sick. Second, hope encourages us to place our trust in a living Heavenly Father. Third, hope is not knowledge. It is trust and confidence in our Savior. It is believing and expecting that our prayers will be answered. It is confidence and optimism and patient perseverance.

For me, the most difficult part of that is probably patient perseverance. Its hard for me sometimes to remain optimistic when I may not see a light at the end of the tunnel. And its difficult to keep going sometimes when we don't see that what we are doing is making a difference. But he told us that hope can refresh us and give fresh courage to those who feel the walls of fear closing in around them.

So, how do we learn to have hope if we lack it? He counseled that we learn to cultivate hope one step at a time. And we do it through scripture study, prayer, and keeping the commandments. Obedience in these areas will bring us hope.

He also talked a lot about how hope faith and charity compliment one another. As one grows, the others grow with it. And when one is lacking, so are the others. And I can see that. When we lose hope, how can we possibly have faith? And also, when we are charitable, it naturally breeds hope.

My favorite quote from his remarks was, "When disobedience, disappointment and procrastination erode faith, hope is there to uphold us." Its always a pleasure to listen to President Uchtdorf.