I knew I was going to write about HOPE when I woke up this morning. I didn’t know what it would look like, but I knew it was going to be about HOPE. Well, amazing how God works, isn’t it? Today was my day to have lunch and hang out with my daughter and meet some friends in Venice, Florida. Angie and I had a great time and then we went to visit a friend who will be six years in recovery from alcoholism next week. I’m very proud of her. What a pleasure to spend the afternoon with her, curled up on her couch eating French fries in the middle of the afternoon. Did I just say that? Of course, she was waiting at the front window when we arrived and she welcomed us with open arms. As soon as she closed the front door, behind the door on the wall was a plaque with this quote.
“All our HOPE and dreams are within our reach, if we only believe” Anonymous
This is how my life works. I put it there and God shows up, in many different ways. For me, I took this as a confirmation of my decision to write about HOPE. When I shared with Lynda about the decision to write about HOPE, she immediately told me a childhood story of hers that stuck in her mind. That is, when she was little, her mother told her over and over again: “While there is life there is hope.“Lynda has been reminded of that saying many times throughout her life and on her path to sobriety. Now, she lives it.
I couldn’t help but think of a thank-you letter Angie wrote me as a Christmas present the first year of her recovery. “You are my wings, you help me fly. You are my mother, my guide, and most importantly, my friend. You have supported me in the worst moments of my life. You stayed with me through thick and thin. When there was no one left, there was you… still holding on to a little bit of HOPE that maybe I could make it, and that little bit of HOPE did wonders for me.” It brings me a tear of joy reading this. She knew that I held on to HOPE and that made all the difference. I never lost HOPE, even when I couldn’t pray anymore. Even in my darkest days I didn’t know how our lives were going to turn out. I NEVER lost HOPE.
Each and everyone who reads this article, please, please, please, never give up HOPE, be it for yourselves or for others. You have no idea when a person can remember your words, your sentences, your attitude or your way of being. It may be all they have when times are dark and they don’t know where to turn. By holding that space of HOPE, it may be what another person needs to turn around, to make the decision to get out of the way of their own negative thinking, to realize that they have options to live a happier and healthier life. .
“Faith, HOPE and love and the greatest of these is love.” Interesting isn’t it? The sequence of these words used by the Apostle Paul in Corinthians. Faith, what is faith? Is it necessary that we all have the same definition or is it okay to accept your own definition and allow others to define faith on what works for them. So HOPE, really, once again, you need to have a judgment on what you or anyone else thinks HOPE is and then LOVE, LOVE, LOVE. My interpretation, which is just my interpretation of my own lived experiences is this: with a little faith, you can hope to live a life filled with love, love, love.
