Scripture ~ Know that wisdom is such to your soul; if you find it, you will find a future, and your hope will not be cut off. Proverbs 24:14
Spiritual Focus ~ “Every time you are tempted to react in the same old way, ask if you want to be a prisoner to the past or a pioneer of the future.” Deepak Chopra, Indian American author and alternative medicine advocate
Breath Prayer ~ Hope Springs Eternal
Devotion ~ As noted last week in our devotion, hope is a future oriented emotion. When we pause to examine the source of our inspiration to hope, we realize it springs from the deep well of the soul. The soul is a place where wisdom resides, a place where we hold our experiences in concert with knowledge, and then dare to hope. Hope is not static; it is fluid, moving and changing with new information. We may hope for one thing and get another that might change how we think. However, we are not cut off from hope because God refuses to give up on us. God invites us to participate in this steadfast hope through our actions as we develop wisdom from past experience and project that forward toward a hope-filled future.
Wisdom causes us to pause and reflect before we act or react in uncertain situations. Pausing allows us to make different choices if needed, informed choices that can result in a better, more hopeful outcome. Making informed, soul-inspired choices is how we participate in God’s hoped-for outcome for us and all people, that is, a life of love and relationship.
Yoga philosophy and practice shape how we act and react for a hope-filled future. Yoga philosophy includes many wisdom texts such as Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, similar to the book of Proverbs, that inform and give us a reason to hope. Yoga teaches us to pause in our physical practice to assess the presence and integration of body, mind and spirit as well as to pause in our everyday lives to experience a life filled with hope.
