We are coming up on my favorite time of year. It is that period of time from Thanksgiving Day to New Year's Eve. I talked about it in an earlier blog. As far as I'm concerned, we should have a special holiday for the entire period of time called 'family, food, friends, and fun'. Let's proclaim it a national holiday and just perform acts of kindness.
As we know polarization and finding ourselves anchored into our point of view is now a way of life for many. Compromise has become a bad word. Yet in the midst of all that we have there are amazing stories. Every year during this period of time there are people who go into a store with a lay-a-way program and then proceed to pay off all those participating in the plan. There have been a large number of anonymous 'angels' who have come into the store and paid off accounts ranging from the oldest to the largest. We want to value each other and find ways to do it. During this time of the year there are many such opportunities.
It has been said God lights the path ahead for us. But my belief is that the lantern by which God lights the path only lights a little bit ahead. So we continue to step forward with faith and we step in faith when we take each step.
These two aspects of humanity lead to such an interesting thing that each of us have. It is that word hope. We are filled with hope that something might happen in the future. Hope keeps us going in the field of challenge and insurmountable struggle. This is the Divine side of us that refutes all of those in our lives that have pointed out how we will fail, what we lack and the troubles ahead.
Yet in the end hope is a wonderful precursor for hope. It is that part of us that believes the Christ child will be birthed in us in the next moment.
We hear the adages that we must be the change we want to see in the world. Also we must be a good friend in order to have a good friend.
Emily Dickinson said, "Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words and never stops at all." This is why the bird sings before the sun every comes up in the morning.
We all have our ups and downs. When down it is so easy to buy into doubt and overwhelm. Yet in the midst of that place there is a vision of hope that it will get better. The question is whether the situation is one we can live with the hope.
It is the farmer whose mule fell into the well. The farmer decided the mule and the well were not worth saving. He started to shovel dirt into the well. The mule kept on stepping up onto the dirt as it landed. Eventually the battered and exhausted mule was level with the gound and stepped out. Hope won in the end.
Anything and everything is possible and miracles happen every moment of every day. Look for the next one coming along.
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