Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Wednesday, 30 January 2008 - Hope, lost and found

Dear God:

Today, I am thankful for hope, lost and found.

Come, come, whoever you are,

Wanderer, worshipper, lover of leaving - it doesn't matter,

Ours is not a caravan of despair.

Come, even if you have broken your vows a hundred times.

Come, come again, come.

~Rumi (Translated by A. J. Arberry)

In the middle of winter the buds prepare for spring.
Thank you God for unceasing life.

The dull, brown stalks of spent hydrangeas mirror my spent spirit. Yet green and blue and pink colors dance in my mind's eye for the spring within and without about to come.

I feel your presence in pealing cathedral bells, in insistent cawing crows, in intricate yellow petals of January forsythia, in new growth heralding coming spring.

Thank You God for hope.
~Marian Wright Edelman

Intellectually, I know that signs of hope exist in my own backyard. But, deep in thought and lost in despair, I rarely hear or see any of them. What a waste of earthly and heavenly wonders. But, that's what happens when my heart has very little to say about how I listen or how I see. That's what happens when I miss opportunities to say, "I'm sorry, please forgive me." That's what happens when life's mysterious and unpredictable twists and turns deplete my creative energy and spirit.

Once again, I acknowledge that I need to make the best of the hand the Universe has dealt me. It's something I must do in order to survive. It's my new marching order.

Of course, I can't complete the assignment without hope. This time, I'm unsure of the source of my hope. All I know is that hope exists. I hear it and see it. I feel it in my heart.

For this blessing, I am grateful.

Amen.

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