LOST

Searching for that silver lining

Where is hope? I hear so many of the people I love wonder where hope is. I am a positive person. I love light, I love joy, I love people. I love spreading sunshine. But I see that hope is getting harder to find. It's definitely not on the news or in the streets of rioting towns. It's not in Olympic doping scandals or plagiarism theories, or presidential candidates. It's not in human selfishness. It's not in corporate ladder climbing. It's not even in the ways humans feel they have to interject themselves into EVERY situation they see...just because they can.

 

Not okay. Leave the poor baby alone!

Hope is elusive these days. I don't remember the last time I saw the flag waving when it wasn't at half-mast. Fires, flooding, hysteria, speculation, division, finger-pointing....my heart just can't take it sometimes.

Last night I, like an idiot, turned on the news. I felt myself sinking into despair faster than an elephant in quicksand. Honestly I was looking for a little hope to grab onto with all the political nonsense in our country...a positive, happy direction. Not so much.

Then I got on Facebook. I know, I know...really? Like that would make me feel better? Guess what? It did. This was the first thing on my feed:

My unsuspecting friend changed the whole course of my thought process...(yesterday, more than once)...right on Facebook. It was an inspired move. It took me from the fearful, anxious, worried and not so positive road I had started to head down and immediately had me looking for good again. Silver linings, happy endings, kind deeds, all that feel-good stuff. I'm finding hope.

Hope is in the sun coming up. Hope is in spending 4 days with family you haven't seen for 6 years, and having your heart hurt when it's time to leave them because you'll miss them so much.

Hope is in a wise daughter talking eternal principles with you for hours on end. Hope is seeing said daughter take friendship into her own hands and spreading the love you have taught her to give. Hope is having your other daughter continually bring up the goodness in others, and sharing her lightness of spirit with the world.  Hope is finding friends that you thought were lost forever.

Hope is having another wonderful friend with a huge heart reach out as a beacon of hope with a message for all:

Hope is a good Samaritan...or two, or more.

Hope is knowing there is always someone out there who understands what you are going through, and will listen to you-anytime, anywhere.  Hope is knowing there are new beginnings. Hope is knowing the past is behind you but it can help you build a future. Hope is knowing that you are loved regardless of that past.

Hope is a fresh, sweet strawberry. Hope is a passport in the mail. Hope is the promise of going to a movie. It's knowing there are miracles. It's knowing someone loves you.

I love my peeps. I love my life. I love finding hope. I am grateful!