hope

tonight i watched the memorial for the victims of covid 19, listened to the words spoken and witnessed the lighting of the lincoln memorial reflecting pool.  as i watched i thought about all that has transpired in the past year; the pandemic and lives lost to it, the hatred that has risen and shown its ugly face and the lives lost to that.  i thought about all the people who have died alone without the comfort of loved ones near.  i thought about all those who are grieving and those yet to grieve.  as i did, the tears began to flow and a prayer rose up in me for all of us, not just those in this nation but those across the globe.  i prayed for an end to this pandemic, for an end to the hatred and the grief.  i prayed for a cure, for humanity to become more compassionate, for unity, for all those grieving to find some comfort and for all of us to hold love and hope in our hearts.

i want to be filled with hope, but it's hard when the news keeps getting worse.  it's hard after we've seen the nation's capitol under siege by our very own citizens.  yet what else is there but to cling to that thread of hope no matter how small?  

as i was browsing my facebook memories i came across these words i shared 11 years ago by orison swett marden, "There is no medicine like hope , no incentive so great , and no tonic so powerful as expectation of something better tomorrow."

coincidence? maybe. what is coincidence but a word we use to define a synchronicity we don't understand? all i know is this, we must have hope lest we give up and giving up is not an option in these dark times. call it hope or faith, we must believe that at some point light will permeate the darkness and that even when we can't see it, it is.

i am not a christian nor do i adhere to organized religion because i don't believe we need religion to have faith in something better or to be better, yet i offer this quote from hebrews 11:1, "now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen".  

i believe we need only to retain hope and to be that light.  i believe we are the prayer and the answer.