Hope comes from within

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

The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.

                                         J.R.R. Tolkien

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see

                                         Hebrews 11:1

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they came in herds

their cars blocking city streets

cutting people off from care

they came waving flags of hate

flags illustrating cult-like allegiance

they came carrying guns

they came screaming

faces angry

why did they come?

was it really about “freedoms” or the “economy”

or was the driving force really

hopelessness?

and these acts

a rebellion

against an insidious and invisible power,

that holds them fast in a painful and deadly grip?

Perhaps they were driven by a need to do something

anything

to fight back against their grief and fear

it maybe they are not all that different after all

from those who huddle in their homes

and scurry to the store, masked and cautious

perhaps they are us

all of us

our souls screaming against this violation of

health, and joy, and hope

how can we have hope against this grim reaper

who stalks our nursing home

and plucks off the old and vulnerable?

how do we survive this?

I have been thinking about hope a lot lately

as I see our world, our country

struggle with malevolent forces

with not just this virus

but all those viruses of the soul

greed

a lust for power

dishonesty

hate

it is a ugly time

a cringe worthy time

that drives us into hopeless

as evil prospers

but still, in spite of it all, there is hope

that thing that perches in the soul and sings

that mystical reality that rises in our souls

as persistently as the sun rises above the horizon each

morning, and scatters the darkness

the thing about hope

I am coming to understand

(alas I am a slow learner)

is that it is not tied to external things

it is not even about a good outcome, at least not in the “here and now”

it is mystical

and lives a life of its own

and it has to do with presence

that presence deep within us

at the center of who we are

at our course

of something, someone

good, loving, kind, generous

the presence of one who holds us

gently

hope comes from within

from that inner Sacred presence

that means that no matter what happens around us

we are never alone

never unloved

and hope gives us a different place to live from

when we hope, we live hope

we live love

we live peace

we live kindness

and when we live hope

we give hope

and hope does not disappoint (Romans 5:5)