The Grace of Hope

HOPE is the thread that keeps us stitched together, keeps our spines wired straight, and our heads up, even when life has given us more reason to keep our gaze focused on the cracks in the sidewalk.

It’s the magical fairy dust that keeps us turning the page in our lives, even when our stories take a plot twist and we’re not sure how the next chapter ends.

HOPE is the light from a new moon promising redemption, enlightenment even, if only we hang on . . . a little longer.

It’s a grace to have hope, especially during times when common sense or circumstances want to bitch slap us into submission. HOPE dressed up as grace makes us feel…well, graceful, strong, and resilient, like a character from “Steel Magnolias.”  It’s the soldier, warrior, Scarlett O’ Hara in us who fights the good fight and would rather go down that way, than to surrender to hopelessness.

HOPE is the best of the human spirit.

HOPE has been part of my steady diet for years and has sustained me through a broken marriage, job loss, relationship ups and downs, and illness.

HOPE is a siren, a seductress. She wears rose colored glasses because the view is softer, prettier. And when situations require that she remove her glasses, she still sees everything through the filter of grace.

That’s because HOPE knows that how we look at the world is how we see the world. And to some degree, it’s how we create it.

It’s like this: when we have a hopeful outlook, even during hard times, times when we want to spit and rail at the heavens, when we hold out or hold on for a flicker of light, of hope, to see a world filled with grace and hopeful possibilities…we shift the energy in that direction.  This is the magical formula, hope, and the alchemy needed to actually create rosier times.

But let’s face it, there are times in life when HOPE is challenged. Worse, there are times when it’s hard to keep HOPE alive, when she must be nourished, spoon fed with dark chocolate and a good Cabernet.

But she is resilient. Because the grace of HOPE is always the grace of tomorrow.

If you’re interested in more thoughts on integrity, compassion and grace, particularly at midlife, read my book Tao Flashes.  Or visit me at www.facebook.com/taoflashes or on twitter @taoflashes.