this is today

Hope is believing the best. To have hope in people is to believe the best about them. To have hope in your business or ministry is to believe the best about it. To have hope in your future is to believe the best about it.

Hope is not blind wishful thinking, rather hope is a powerful internal motivating force and its absence in life can be paralyzing.

Daniel Goleman, popular author in the field of Emotional Intelligence, says successful leaders operate from the hope of the success rather than the fear of failure.

In other words, a person with a hopeful attitude or an optimistic outlook knows how to handle setbacks. A pessimist allows a setback to consume them with defeat, stress, anxiety and anger. By contrast, the optimist quickly identifies the reason for the setback and sees they have the power to do something about it. They have hope – they see the steps they need to take and they have the energy to then take them.

The realm of church leadership is full of setbacks, but a heart full of God-given hope – for the best outcomes in people’s lives, in our communities and in our churches – can make an incredible difference.