One of the most essential things you can do for a child is plant hope in his or her heart. If a child hopes, they will try, risk, push themselves to succeed.
When I taught in Atlanta, one of my third graders wrote in one of her daily journal assignments, "Ms. Smith is my best teacher because she always believed in me and she taught me to believe in myself." This is one of the most powerful tools we can give a child. I want my kids to know the greatness for which they were created and to walk in that. I want them to believe in themselves because they carry the image of the Living God.
The past couple of months, I have been working with a beautiful group of first and second graders in Santa Matilde running a literacy development group on Thursday afternoons. Juanita is one of my 
precious kiddos in this group (pictured right with her two older sisters). A couple weeks ago, I walked into Juanita's classroom and was talking with her teacher. She told me that she's been having trouble with Juanita in class and that she's not completing her work. I walked over to Juanita ready to chastise her for not doing her work. She looks up at me with tears welling up in her eyes and mumbles, "it's just that I can't do it. I can't do anything."
My whole countenance changed. A smile spread across my face and I told her, "Of course you can do it. Let me show you that you can."
I wrapped my hand around hers and helped her write her first letters. "There, we did that one together. Now that you know the motion to make, I want to see you write one on your own."
She wrote her next letter nearly perfectly. "That's great Juanita. Let's just make that circle a little rounder and this line a little longer. Try it again." And she did it. "Do you see? I knew you could do it. You're doing great! Keep going." A smile spreads across her face and she gets back to work 
concentrating with all her might.
A flicker of hope. Sometimes that's all we need. When the task in front of us seems impossible, we need that hope that even if I don't know how to do this yet I can learn to do it well. When our circumstances seem dark and insurmountable, we often just need the hope that the Lord will sustain us there and that this season will pass. Hope gives us the strength to keep plodding forward when the road is difficult.
Romans 15:13 says, "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." Our God is a God of hope. He designed His children to overflow with that hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. Allow His Spirit to fill you to overflowing with the essence of Your Father. Allow that hope to spill forth into the lives of other people. See them through His eyes. See who He has made them to be. Believe in who they are in Him.
One of my favorite worship leaders, Marshall Daniels, wrote a song called Delight Yourself in the Lord. My favorite part of that song says, "It's Your HOPE reawakens all my dreams long forgotten. I find purpose, I find life, I find everything I've wanted in YOU." Our God is the God of hope. We are our Father's children. Let us find our hope in Him, run in that hope, and pour it out on everyone you meet. You never know the difference that one child who learns to live in hope can make in a broken and hurting world.
