The Power of Hope

December 9, 2023

"Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it again" (Ecclesiastes 11:1).

“Cast your bread upon the waters” is a beautiful way of saying, "Give of yourself without expecting anything in return." The water represents the natural world that always gives back what we throw and sow.

The mentality of scarcity promotes hoarding because, in that state, we constantly anticipate a looming disaster. Stockpiling our goods may be prudent, and we do need to save for a rainy day. But when our prudence becomes stinginess, we end up too fearful to hope.

Hoarding and stinginess are actually distortions of hope. The unchecked ego wants to hope; but it imitates it by retaining its good, instead of giving. This assures us that we always have what we need and want. As a mental structure, the ego relies on its own power to fulfill its desire, but this instills “hope” only in one's own resources. But the “self," by itself, cannot always get what we need and want.

The soul, however, is in tune with our depths, knows our spiritual purpose, and what aspects of the Divine we were created to express. The soul is willing to cast our bread upon the waters because it knows on the deepest of levels that what we give will indeed return to us. The soul accepts the gifts that come and passes that energy along freely. In some form, that energy returns to the soul. Though the soul may not know what form that energy returned to us will take, it always has hope.

What bread do you need to cast upon the waters today?

Dear God,

I throw it in, I give it up; I alone cannot make it happen. Only the tides can bring it to me. Only my giving will keep me in your divine flow. I pray for the consciousness that all will come in your ebb and flow. Amen.

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