School is starting everywhere and I have an assignment. Miranda from Scattering Moments wrote an amazing blog post about hope. As it turns out it is part of a bigger thing going on in the blogosphere where some tagging is going on. She tagged me. I am trying to rise to the challenge though there is no way I will ever be able to come close to touching her story of hope—I offer you my own perspective.
Hope is both a verb and a noun which should tell you something about the word itself. It can be both an action and a thing. Pretty cool. Not every word can boast that trait. Hope is the belief that things are going to turn out okay regardless of the current state of affairs. Hope is glass half full.
As a Christian hope may take on a slightly different meaning for me than for a non Christian. I don’t try to “preach” on my blog but this word has gotten me thinking about hope in my life and how I view it. Hope, to me, is the belief that with God’s help and guidance everything will be okay. Hope is the certainty that heaven awaits
Hope was there when our youngest child was delivered six weeks premature and had to have a little extra tender loving care in NICU until he figured it all out. Hope was definitely there as today I marvel at the amazing 24 year old that he has become.
Hope was present when my husband’s job situation went from fabulous to not so fabulous. Hope that tomorrow would be better, that God was there, and a lot of love and support from family is what got us through.
But perhaps the most vivid example of hope has hit me smack in the face the past couple of weeks as we have had my brother in law, Carlton, staying with us. If you have followed me for awhile you know that Chris’s dad passed away just a year ago. Carlton, 43, has Down Syndrome and has always lived at home. All of the sudden he was going through things that the rest of us were having a difficult time dealing with. His world was turned upside down. So we stepped up and stepped in. Because we love him and because we have hope that ultimately all things that we hope for are for the best and that is what we want for him.
The past two weeks I have seen hope in action—as a verb. Carlton has blossomed in the past year, thanks mainly to my sister in law, Colleen. He has gained back a lot of his social skills that had been lost over the years of living with parents whose health prevented them from doing the things they once did for and with him. Hope was the overwhelming theme as we spent time together enjoying craft projects and baking and of course his favorite—eating out! Hope was the pervasive theme as we talked about how much he missed his parents. Hope was in the day to day conversations and actions that we were able to include him in.
So many times we place limitations on others. People who are handicapable are often limited. If only we give them a chance and foster the hope that is inside them we can see a difference. The past two weeks we offered a bit of hope to a loved one. In return he showed us hope as a verb. Glass half full on the way to being glass full. What a marvelous thing hope is. The world needs more of it.
My beautiful note I found on top of the stepping stone he created.
P.S. Along with this challenge comes three rules:
1. Write a post about hope and publish it to your blog.
2. Invite at least one person to blog about it, too.
3. Link back to the person who invited you at the top of your post.
There are so many folks I would love to read what they would have to say about hope and I have to narrow it down. Darn it!!! But I decided to follow Miranda’s lead and choose three. So here you go!!!! If you accept the challenge (in your own time, of course—we are all busy!) please let me know when you post it so I don’t miss it!!!
Jake from Poems and Ponderings
Patti from A New Day Dawns
Audrey from Minnesota Prairie Roots
