HOPE

“Hope” is the thing with feathers -

That perches in the soul -

And sings the tune without the words -

And never stops - at all -” Emily Dickinson

“What is my word today?” I gasped between the steamy sprays of the shower waters. “What is MY word?” I wanted a word to start out the new day. I needed something to help me grow and change ...something to which I could cling. Something that would help me survive. I was not in a good place. All around me my life was crumbling. I couldn't seem to make it through any part of a day without crying. I needed a damn good WORD. I needed a miracle word.

“Hope.” Day after day, my word was HOPE I wanted a word that was glamorous and trendy. I wanted a word that produced sheer exhilaration and immediate thrilling sensations that would pull me through and hoist me up. I wanted a word that would mosh pit me across all problems and drop me on the other side. Nada. Not happening. Not even close. The word, HOPE, is slow. The word, HOPE isn't easy. It requires work. For, you see, the word HOPE is not always a noun. It is not passive. The word, HOPE, is often a VERB. An ACTIVE WORD. You have to do something! You have to push energy into HOPE . You have to literally reach down into the center of your being and pull yourself up by those proverbial bootstraps and push that HOPE out and in and up and through. HOPE is work. To HOPE is not sedentary. It demands action.

So, hope I did. I hoped. I prayed and hoped and hoped and prayed. Slowly but surely, I began to come through some very LARGE issues and struggles. I clung to hope, I practiced hope, I spoke hope, I slept hope. It is not an easy life, but hope cannot be dropped from our lives or we lose it all. There are many accounts of people who have literally existed on nothing more than hope. I think of those poor Jewish prisoners in concentration camps in Nazi Germany. What did they have besides hope? I wonder if they could even muster that? But, if you read their stories you often find they held on to hope....even when it was the darkest.

May our lives never be so horrid that we have not one good thing. However, if these times do hit, it is important to remember that 'hope is the thing with feathers,' and a little hope can make any situation more bearable. Do not give up hope, dear friend.

Take Good Care Today.