We used to live in the great state of Montana, and although I swear my bones are still cold from the -30 degree weather (yes, negative 30 degrees!), my heart always feels warm when I recall Montana… and her amazing people. I’ve said it more times than I know, but I’ll say it again: Montana has some of the best homegrown people on the planet. ~ Salt of the earth, I swear!
Before our son Manning came along and graced us with filled diapers and sleepless nights (spoiler alert: once you have kids, you basically never sleep again. ever.), I worked at a cancer center for our local hospital.
My role was to help those fighting for their lives, but I look back now and I can honestly say that so many of those people are responsible for teaching me how to truly live.
Not long after getting the job, I made a piece of art – actually, four framed letters – that hung big & bright on my office wall:
I guess this idea of Hope has laced my life for longer than I ever really considered… and it’s no wonder that my favorite Christmas song is Oh, Holy Night.
The lyrics “a thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices…” man, it gets me every time!
Weary? Yeah, I’d say a lot of us are weary.
But then enters Hope… and everything changes.
HOPE: the desire for things to be better and the belief that they can be.
Oh, what a thrill! –To believe bigger, better… to become aware of what truly matters in life…
to move forward, unafraid, because you know your soul’s worth and you trust the God who is sending you…
What a thrill to know deep down that you’ve been equipped for such a time as this… in a weary, seemingly darkened day…
Holding on to hope in a world that’s relentless in sending hopeless messages requires all-out audacity.
I’ve decided that I’m unwilling to relinquish my hope, even in these tough days.
I’m unwilling to walk away from my belief that things can get better.
I’ve seen way too many people with beautiful hearts and God-given dreams and talents, and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that when they choose to BELIEVE – and they step into using those things – the irrefutable result is a better world around them.
And like a tiny ripple in a big ocean, the good and beautiful reaches out to way beyond where it originated… it reaches people like you & me, like our children, and our communities.
I don’t know about you, but something like that… that kind of light in the darkness… now that’s got some thrill to it, right?!
💫🎶 oh, a thrill of hope… the weary world rejoices… 🎶💫
May you live…truly live…today.
And may hope light the way…
Love,
