Hope

 

Around this time of year I am awake early enough to see the sun as it shines through the fanlight in my front door.  As the sun moves through the sky, the sun flowers flow across my floor and up the wall.

When it feels like life is too much, this tiny reminder of the beauty in the world is welcome.

This morning the above tweet appeared on my FB timeline shared by a friend.  It was a timely reminder that we must not lose all hope, even in the face of things happening beyond our control.  Bad things happen, yes, even to good people.  There are those who believe that these bad things happen for a reason.  Sometimes that reason is that people can be cruel and nasty.  And we are seeing a lot of that these days.

But!  And here's the thing.  Cruel and nasty is just as temporary as good and kind.  I prefer to surround myself with people who are good and kind.  I try to be good and kind, even when I'm stressed beyond breaking.  When I am, I'm probably not nearly as good and kind as I would wish to be.

So when I'm struggling with cruel and nasty goings on in the world, I try to remember to hope.  

Hope that things can get better, if we work at it.  Hope that the sun will shine, flowers will grow.  Hope that we can move beyond cruel and nasty to good and kind.

I am fortunate in that I am pretty much surrounded with people who are of the good and kind variety. 

I am not oblivious to what is happening in the world right now, far from it.  But I also know that I cannot keep going if I allow the things I cannot control to take over my life, my thoughts.

Weaving continues to be an important part of how I manage to get through the day(s).  Weaving has been, at times, my profession, my meditation, my exercise, my physical and mental therapy.

And from time time I get to see sun 'flowers' flow across my floor.  They remind me that even in the midst of chaos there is still beauty to be found in this world.  And hope gives me the strength to keep going, even after being knocked down.  Again.