"Hope is that thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words and never stops... at all". ~Emily Dickinson
While I stand strong in my opposition to New Year's resolutions, I have to take a moment to honor hope. I embrace the hope that a new year brings, and I wish that hope for others too.
I have been thinking a lot about all of the hub and bub associated with a new year. I have never really understood it. I have never been one to go to New Year's Eve parties, or force myself to stay up and watch the ball drop. If I'm up, then I watch, but if I'm tired, I just go to bed. So what, then, is the reason for all of it? For the staying up late and the resolutions? I think it just boils down to hope.
Hope that the hardships of the past year are over. Maybe in this new year, we will find the person of our dreams, or the job that makes us feel alive inside. Maybe our marriages will be stronger, and our finances will be easier to manage. In this new year we have made no mistakes, and maybe we won't. We won't speak coarsely, or display impatience. See, the calendar has been flipped, so with that flip comes the hope that things will be better. Maybe the economy will turn around, or the housing market. Maybe the President will vote for what we stand for, and maybe we can stick to that diet that we started and failed ten times last year...because that was LAST year and this is a NEW YEAR!!
On a couple of occasions I have stood with my eyes barely open and, with my hands over my eyes, I have peeked through my fingers at life without hope. Just the glimpse was enough to derail my spirits and turn simple tasks into insurmountable burdens. It is not just being defeated, but being so defeated that there is no awareness that victory is possible. A world without hope is a world without color. Without joy. A world without hope is no world for me! So, if a new year is a celebration of a new hope, then I am all in!
This year I hope along with everyone else. I hope for closure on past hurts, and open doors to help me follow my heart's passions. I hope for health, and a happy home. I hope for confidence to go forth in the direction of my dreams, and I hope for the world to be a little bit brighter in the places that I touch. I hope that your world is brighter too, and that no matter what life has brought, that you embrace the power that hope brings.
When the world says, "Give up,"
Hope whispers, "Try it one more time."
(Author Unknown)
