What does it actually mean to prosper?  If you start with the definition, you will read words like thrive, flourish, flower, bloom, blossom, burgeon, grow vigorously, expand, spread, improve, succeed, advance, get on in the world, go up in the world, arrive, fly high, make one’s mark, or become rich.

With those words, I not only want to prosper, I crave prospering.

The promise exists…with hope, we will prosper.  We want to make it in this world.  Whatever our personal goals or wishes for achievement are, we hope to reach them.  

What we so often forget to consider is our current place and how we have already prospered.  The riches are too great to count if we focus on what we possess outside of what money can buy.  I once read,  “If you want to find out how rich you are, count how many things you have in your life that money can’t buy.”

We all know the fleeting promises of material goods.  The next best technology item brings us a momentary thrill until we move on to what really matters…the treasures of life that surround us. 

 As I sit and consider the differences between the words used to define one word, I am moved by the power of subjectivity.

The hand of hope is at work in my life.  I reach for the familiarity of its grasp and realize the promise is real.  The “riches” surrounding me are too great to count, yet I know there is more in store in a future beyond what I see today. 

Living in the moment does not prevent us from hoping.  Appreciating the now only lays the groundwork for tomorrow.  When we believe we can grow, expand, and improve there is always hope.  It is in that very same hope, we prosper.

-Erika K Rothwell