*This is part of a series of articles covering virtues, and how they can help you live a better life. So far, this series has covered the Cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance, and the first of the theological virtues, faith, which can be found at their respective links.

We have always held to the hope, the belief, the conviction that there is a better life, a better world, beyond the horizon.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Hope is a virtue that, while having a clear theological definition, the common dictionary definition is actually more generally applicable to our lives.

So what is hope?

The theological definition of hope is "the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ's promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit." This definition of hope is still applicable to our lives, but it is more of a big picture view.

The common dictionary definition of hope is a bit more broad, but is more generally applicable. Hope is defined as "a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen." Hope, in that sense, is more about the hope that we can have in relation to our everyday lives, whereas the theological definition is more of a general sense of hope for how our lives end.

That said, both definitions have a place in guiding our lives to be better.

So how does hope help you live a better life?

This is a bit more abstract in comparison to most of the other virtues we have covered so far, but hope can help you live a better life because hope gives you a direction for the things you want.

If you hope to be the best at something, then using that hope to guide your life can lead to being more focused on doing things the right way. Hope is an important part of goal-setting because hope determines our goals since we hope to achieve those goals.

Both definitions of hope come with a certain sense of belief, and that belief is necessary to achieve the hopes that we have, whether that be the hope to reach heaven or the hope to pass a difficult class. We have to believe that we can achieve, which is what hope is about.

So how do I gain hope?

Gaining hope is a weird concept because it goes into a deeper meaning of what it means to be hopeful.

Being hopeful means feeling optimistic about the future. To gain hope is to gain some sense of optimism that things are going to be better in the future. Or in a simpler way:
Ooh-oo child
Things are gonna get easier
Ooh-oo child
Things'll get brighter
Ooh-oo child
Things are gonna get easier
Ooh-oo child
Things'll get brighter
Someday, yeah
We'll get it together and we'll get it all done
Someday
When your head is much lighter
Someday, yeah
We'll walk in the rays of a beautiful sun
Someday
When the world is much brighter
Ooh-oo child
Things are gonna be easier
Ooh-oo child
Things'll get be brighter
Ooh-oo child
Things are gonna be easier
Ooh-oo child
Things'll get be brighter

Hope can help us live a better life because it can inspire us to believe that our future will be better.

Hope can help us see the brighter days ahead.