I've been keeping my hopes unbroken

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afQumMKuuOo

"I write songs about things I can't understand. Mostly God and women"

-Jon Foreman

Jon Foreman's recent music (Fiction Family, Switchfoot, and his amazing solo project) has resonated with me for the past two years or so now. I've been in love with his song writing since my freshman year of high school, but lately it's been a much stronger draw to his songs. The writing has struck my core lately.

The line that stick out the most is towards the end when he sings "I've been keeping my hopes unbroken."

Hope is an interesting word and it seems to be thrown around a lot lately. One common example of this was the campaign posters during the 2008 Presidential Election. It was a word that seemed to mean that the country would finally have someone who could return the United States to prominence after 8 years of George W. Bush. I was not a huge fan of this line of thinking, but it got people moving which is probably because one of my hopes is for people to realize that one person (even the President) cannot ruin a country, nor can one pull a country from the ashes. Rather, it takes people being the change they want to see (that idea seems to be everywhere right now).

The thing about hope though is that people can lose it so quickly. On the new Motion City Soundtrack album, lyricist Justin Pierre sings "The things that used to mean so much to me have gone the way of dinosaurs, hopes and dreams, and everything." That line really hit me because I realized that I let go of my hopes far too easily.

I also stumbled across this quote:

"Hope never abandons you; you abandon it."

-George Weinberg

So I have made a conscious decision to not just have hopes, but to achieve them. This is all part of me being a better person. I have to work towards God's kingdom and commit myself to it before I can abide in it.

"When nothing is owed, deserved, or expected,

And your life isn't changed by the man that's elected.

If you're loved by someone you're never rejected,

Decide what to be and go be it."

-The Avett Brothers

That's my motto now.