Hope is like Chili

The other day, I was shopping for ingredients to make some chili. I was having trouble finding one ingredient—I’ve been seeing so many TV chefs using smoked paprika, I thought it might be good in a chili—and after a few trips up and down the aisles, I was losing hope. I started thinking about hope in general. And how we all feel like we’re losing it now and then.

Mmmm. My smoked paprika chili was delish! (Image: Amy Spencer)

Hope, in a way, is like cooking up a hot chili on a cool fall day. If you feel like you’re losing hope, let me say this: First, you’re not alone. We all feel that sometimes. Especially in dating when love sometimes seems so ungraspable.

But second, you can get your hope back. And you do it the same way you’d make that chili. You make a concerted effort. The same way you’d go to the grocery store for meat and kidney beans, you can find the ingredients of hope within yourself.

Do it by thinking about the times in life you thought you’d never get through. Remember the heartbreak you got over? Remember the first day of work you survived? Remember that friend of yours you were so mad at, you thought you’d never get over it? Feelings change. Time passes. Hearts heal. And this is what you’re going to remember as you build up your hope again.

You’ve gotten what you wanted in life before and you can get it again now. I found the smoked paprika (and it was a delicious addition). And if you dig deep enough, look in the right places, and ask for some help to lead you in the right direction, you can find your hope, too. Like chili, it can really help on a cold, lonely day.

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