– Emily Dickinson

W e live in challenging times

– it is time to hope. It is time to hope for peace. It is time to hope for a breakthrough. We have been given hope not because we paid for it, but because Jesus did. It is a powerful and universal inspiration. Joy is everything in the Christian life. Get your hopes up.

Why am I writing about hope? We are in our Holy Season at St. Demetrios Church in Biddeford, a yearly journey to a blessed Pascha of our Lord. We prepare to meet the church’s 2,000- year tradition of preparing to greet our Lord’s resurrection. Our Pasch, Easter, is May 1 this year, always after Passover. The world is desperately hungry for Him and the good news He came to share with us.

Hope is part of us and though we can’t touch or see it, we can experience it. It is there and it is real. Hope makes us feel open, warm, reassured, balanced and full of peace. We live with the happy anticipation that something good is about to happen to us. Hope sees the best, not the worst. There is joy that comes with looking and believing for the best. The media reports everything bad that is happening in the world, but there are good things all around us if we purposely look for them, and I know that it is not always easy.

If we live in the garden of hope, something is always blooming. (Even universal wisdom resides in the crocuses and daffodils that know when the earth is warming it is spring and time to blossom.)

Especially in this day and age, we all need hope. We suffer heartbreak, stress, disappointment, grief, temptation, failure and more. We feel defeated, overwhelmed, have threats, problems and spiritual needs. Easter and Lenten Spring always make me stop and think. “Zaffie,” I say to myself, “Think of your thoughts and words. You are becoming cynical and negative. Come on. Look up.”

How can we not seek restoration and blessings in this broken world and to keep away from the spirit of despondency and despair? God wants us to be locked up in hope. Easter reminds us that we have been given hope, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, truth and much more.

Our hope is to live life with enthusiasm and joy. Pascha is dedicated to a celebration of orthodox ideals of faith in God, loyalty to country and love of family. Easter surrounds us with hope and love. He said, “I am the good shepherd. I go in search of the bruised, the troubled and the hurting sheep.”

Looking up at the wooden cross, we find what millions have found: hope.

— Zaffie Hadiaris of Saco is the host of “Zaffie,” a weekly television talk show on Channel 3 Biddeford public access. It can also be seen at biddefordmaine.org. Contact Zaffie at zhadiaris@hotmail.com.