Hope is…

Hope is elusive.
It dances just out of reach.
It floods us all at once.
It runs out of sight.
It winks and nods knowingly
As it passes by.
It takes our hands.
It holds our hearts.
It lets go.
 
Hope is the frost
on the edge of leaves
fallen to the ground.
It is the squirrel eating my pumpkins.
It is the bulbs frozen in the earth,
patiently waiting to make their debut.
 
Hope is there on the wedding day,
and in new ways
as the divorce papers
are signed.
Hope is signing up for online dating
and getting your heart broken again.
It is in a new lover’s hand as it clasps mine.
 
Hope is believing in the possibilities,
the improbable ones,
even the impossible ones.
Mary knew about those, didn’t she?
In December she is to become a young mother,
perhaps surprised by her fate.
Come April, she will be a grieving mother,
she sings her song of possibilities still.
 
Hope is preaching love week after week
in a world that remains broken.
 
Hope is hiding in the loneliest places
waiting for us to notice a shimmer.
 
Hope is in the messiest places
fueling our passion
helping us show up
in the name of a better world.
 
Hope is the shepherd
searching for the lost sheep.
It is the magi setting out
in search of a baby.
It is the angels singing.
It is the pain and blood of birth
in an unlikely place.
It is Mary’s “yes.”
It is Joseph’s compassion.
Hope is 2000 years later
anxiously waiting
for it to happen again!
 
Hope is trusting this moment
won’t last forever.
Hope is accepting grief
amidst the joy.
Hope is showing up.
Hope is working
for transformation.
 
Hope takes intention.
Hope takes practice.
Hope takes patience.
 
Hope is learned,
remembered,
our very breath.