Article August 4, 2014 Issue

'Hope for the best,' or expect good?

Jennifer Johnson

Have you ever heard the saying “Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst”? Sometimes it can feel easier to expect that bad things are going to happen rather than good things. Or that good things happen only to other people, and not to you. But these are not thoughts that come from God. God loves each of us equally and totally. He causes only good for us and knows what we need. Listening to divine Mind is what leads us where we need to be.

In Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy says, “Hold thought steadfastly to the enduring, the good, and the true, and you will bring these into your experience proportionably to their occupancy of your thoughts” (p. 261). When we expect good, we will increasingly see all the blessings in our lives.

One day, when I woke up, it hit me that I should always be expecting good. It was divine inspiration, it wasn’t my words that popped into my head or what I usually wake up thinking about, so this definitely got my attention as I hopped out of bed. That’s something else that doesn’t usually happen—me “hopping” out of bed! But I was energized.

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'Hope for the best,' or expect good?

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