On this day before Easter during Passover week and just 2 weeks before Ramadan, I’m thinking about hope and faith. Both hope and faith are tricky emotions.
On hope and faith
I like what Anne Lamott says about hope…
“Hope is not about proving anything. It’s about choosing to believe this one thing, that love is bigger than any grim, bleak shit anyone can throw at us.”― Anne Lamott, Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith
When you have faith it doesn’t mean that bad things don’t happen to you. They do. For some it’s illness, the loss of a loved one, depression, divorce, childlessness, homelessness, or job loss. The list could go on and on. Everyone has their own bag of rocks they carry through life.
There are no promises. And some things are not fixable. I have learned that I need to be careful what I hope for.
“You might think I lost all hope at that point. I did. And as a result I perked up and felt much better.”― Yann Martel, Life of Pi
Hoping for a miraculous cure for the life-long chronic pain issues I struggle with might simply cause me more pain. But hoping to find the grace to love and cherish this body just as it is helps me. Having faith that God will heal me the way I would like to be healed leads to frustration and more pain. But having faith that I am loved just as I am lifts me.
Let me be grateful for what is. Show me how to spread light even though I may not be able to physically do what I want to do. Let me share laughter, love, and tears with family and friends. And most of all…
Let me appreciate the wonder and beauty of life
Today as I look around I feel so incredibly lucky and blessed and privileged to live the life I live. I have plenty to eat, a home that I love, loved ones and friends. I have the pond behind the house, leaves beginning to bud in the trees, wood ducks swimming in the pond, squill flowers blooming in the back yard, and my sweet and ever-loving Jon sitting at the dining room table eating his lunch.
May you find comfort in your hopes and faith. May you experience grace.
“Grace fills empty spaces, but it can only enter where there is a void to receive it, and it is grace itself which makes this void.” — Simone Weil
May you walk in beauty.
Though snow may fall tomorrow, today the leaves are beginning to pop on the trees beside the pond
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