Vacation Daydreams

Ugh. I want to be on vacation SO BAD. Still a few weeks, though. I'm working through the revision process on my thesis, which is interesting and good for me as a writer. I am not a very patient person, though, and I want it to be done...yesterday!
Cue the breathing. I know that this is another excellent opportunity to practice contentment. Also, hope. (as in, I hope that my thesis is finished soon, so I can play!)

Part of my thesis involves a word study. I investigated hope, among other terms, to help define my personal beliefs. Hope can be defined as a noun or a verb. In one sense, it is the act of confident expectation, the act of anticipating. In another sense, it is the object of the confident expectation, the “someone or something on which hopes are centered” (Merriam-Webster).To help more clearly visualize the concept, we can look to the sixth chapter of Hebrews for a particularly concrete metaphor, “…hope is the anchor for the soul, sure and steadfast” (Hebrews 6:19 ASV).

Anchors appear in our lives and our subconscious, in myriad ways. We have HTML anchors, taking the shape of a lower case “a” between greater-than and less-than symbols, < a >, which help create hyperlinks in the digital texts we negotiate daily. We sink anchors into our drywall before hanging heavy pictures and shelves, to support the screws or nails. Most archetypal, however, is the ship’s anchor. Even here, there is rich diversity of imagery, from the classic shape on Popeye’s forearm to German-engineered sculptural anchors carried on yachts.

For practical purposes, a good working anchor will “set” quickly, or penetrate the seabed to secure itself, while less desirable anchors will “plough” the seabed instead. It is also desirable to get maximum “hold” from one’s anchor, which can be measured by the pounds of pressure it takes to dislodge the anchor from it’s resting place; the more pounds it can resist before being moved, the better (ROCNA). Applying these concepts to the Biblical term, might lead us to the following picture: A ship, that in any sort of weather, no matter how violent or threatening, can always be seen holding steadily in its position. Why? Because there is a strong line attaching it to a quick-setting anchor that gives it maximum hold. It doesn’t budge. The steady ship is the substance, the anchor is what the substance comes out of, or connects to. The ship is our faith. The line that connects it is the verb usage of hope, or our confident expectation. The anchor itself is the noun usage of hope, the Someone on whom hope is centered: Jesus Christ.