hopes and Hope

Image credit Chris Montgomery from Unsplash

How do you define hope? What everyday things bring you hope? How do these everyday hopes weave into a greater Hope for creation and humanity?

Something that I’ve held onto from my chaplain training is the idea of having hope and Hope. One of the staff chaplains introduced this idea to our learning group. He spoke about how when we face life altering situations and circumstances, it can be healing and comforting to reframe our concept of hope toward the seemingly overlooked stuff of every day life. Reflecting on the election and circumstances of this past year, I was reminded of this idea of hope and wondered what things we might have taken for granted this year before the pandemic, before this year’s election season, and from voices in our community that we may not have heard with the same ears before this year. And so this poem came to life.

hopes

For that steady first step

for casting your first vote

for writing that letter, that chapter, that book

for landing your dream job

for a hug from a loved one

for a friendly smile

for a walk together through the neighborhood

for that drive home from the hospital

for first dates and first kisses

for finding where home is

for finding who home is

for new friends and friends becoming family

together we weave a tapestry of

seeing-hearing-holding-healing-loving-

our self-each other-the holy-

each hope bringing us closer to 

Hope.