There are more words in the Oxford English Dictionary than any one individual could possibly know. In the second edition of the 20-volume series, published in 1989, there are 171,476 words in current use and 41,156 obsolete words. With so many to choose from, could you select just three to live by? The three that come to mind when I pondered this question are faith, hope and love. To me, these are more than just words—they are powerful forces in life that fuel my spirit to live, survive and thrive. As water, oxygen and food are needed to fuel the body…faith, hope and love are needed to fuel the spirit.
Without faith, hope and love, it would be difficult to live a life full of meaning and purpose. When life events shake our foundation, it is our faith that provides us with the courage to endure and overcome hardship. When fear gets the best of us, our hope for a better tomorrow keeps us moving forward. And asthe Apostle Paul wrote, “There are three things that remain—faith, hope and love—and the greatest of these is love.”Love is a gift from God Himself; it allows us to overcome hate, evil, resentment and other destructive emotions. Our love for ourselves and for others defines what we want in life and the actions we take to achieve it.
In her memoir, The Choice: Embrace the Possible, author and holocaust survivor, Dr. Edith Eva Eger wrote, “At Auschwitz, at Mauthausen, on the Death March, I survived by drawing on my inner world. I found hope and faith in life within me, even when I was surrounded by starvation and torture and death.” She survived because her hope and faith remained strong; she knew that she wanted to live so she never gave up. Her love for herself and life got her through this horrid time in history.
Our lives are enhanced when hope, love and faith are the essence of our existence. They help us to live each and every day with meaning and purpose.
Lord, let hope, faith and love infuse our being, living and thinking.
