As a child I use to spend the summer on my grandfathers farm when school got out for summer. Mom would pack my bags and send me off for week with my “Popa.” I loved my grandfather and worked with him both around the house and in his business. One day after feeding the pigs I asked him the difference between animals and people. His answer has struck me ever since that point in life.
He turned and in a serious voice I rarely heard from him he said: We have a concept of hope.
I have thought on the topic of hope. Meditated on hope. And been amazed by hope. When everything looks dismal and the solutions to problems nonexistent, hope has the ability to snake through the darkness and cast a warm, healing light. The fact that it can arrive so unexpectedly makes it all the sweeter. Once you experience hope, there’s no mistaking the profoundness of the emotion.
Hope is also mysteriously able to heal even when the prognosis for recovery is unclear. “Against all odds” is the expression. Recovery is often a missed point in our struggles, but something we all must go through on varying levels. The truth is that the underlying reason for recovery — or at least a powerful contributing factor — is hope.
Hope is our bright light and unlike sunshine, hope can stick around. Hope will live and thrive in the hearts and minds who hold it diligently and are filed to move forward by it daily.
Peace and Love, Jim
