Hope

Those of you who know me realize I struggle with winter in general. I really don't like being cold, and I'm never happier than when the sun is shining, and the sky is blue. As I was on my way out of the door going to work this morning, I glanced over to my flower bed, and what did I see peeking out from the soil?


It doesn't matter that my mind may have been weighted down with worries of the coming day - the meetings, projects, classes, and general stresses - this sight brightened my mood by leaps and bounds. Why? Because, to me, it represents brighter, sunnier, greener things to come; it represents HOPE of a better day.



This lesson can be applied in facing the real challenges in our lives, too... not just enduring trivial weather patterns, but enduring genuinely difficult trials. If we can hold onto hope - hope of a brighter, sunnier, time; hope of a strength gained through enduring the hardship; hope of weathering whatever storm besets us - then somehow our trials become easier to bear. Either that, or our hope strengthens us to be able to bear the trials more gracefully.

So, when you see the trees budding, bulbs peeking through the soil, snow melting, even weeds growing, any sign that our world is awakening with spring in the air, think of something more than the impending allergy season... think of HOPE!