Waiting at a Spanish pedestrian crossing, we pressed the button and it lit up with the message “Esperar la verde” – wait for the green light. Being somewhat fascinated with language and words, I realised that the Spanish for “wait” seemed to come from the same root as the French word I already knew for “hope” – esperer.
So onto Google I go, and it turns out that the Spanish for “hope” is “la esperanza” – literally (I think) ‘the waiting’. Further research suggests that in pretty much all the romance languages, the words for “hope” and “wait” share a common etymological root – the Latin verb “sperare”, to hope or expect.
And that made me think – where in my life am I confusing mere waiting with hope? And where do I need to turn that into real hope, by taking action to bring it about?
So as we come to the end of another year, here’s my Christmas wish for you: that it will bring you everything you were hoping for, and especially what you did a little more for than just passively waiting!
Merry Christmas! – and a very prosperous and joyful New Year of course, as I won’t be posting again until Sunday 1st, New Year’s Day (this one is a day early, even I’m not going to post on Christmas Day!)
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