Wednesday Wish (137); Have Hope

photo by markus gebauer via pulptastic.com

There’s a pulse. Do you hear it? With your hand on your chest and your ears turned inside, a deep breath will take you there. Down to the truth. Your truth. Where your life energy flows. Some days it may be quiet. Other days it may beat out of you like a stormin’ high school band. And most days, if you’re like many of us in this modern fast paced world, it may be tired and even a little bit sad, as if some part of that life energy flew away, never to be heard of again.

But it’s there.

I promise you.

Hope is still there.

Have you ever heard the power of a whisper in silent church?

Have you ever seen the brilliance of a candle in a pitch-dark wood?

And what about a single smile lovingly shared on a terrible, painful day?

Hope doesn’t have to be big.

It doesn’t have to be loud.

It doesn’t have to be everywhere

… to change your day.

… to change your life.

… to change … the world.

It just has to be real.

*          *          *

He is only seven and she is only six. And the two of them are inseparable. They laugh together. They tumble together. They build legos and cardboard libraries and slides for their stuffed animals and dolls. And sometimes, he likes to hold her, to be a little man to his little woman friend. So he picks her up to show her and anyone else watching, how strong he is. And she lets him. She adores his strength. And he adores her love.

One day, as he was carrying her, he accidently stepped on a piece of stray cardboard. His foot slipped out from under him. And down they started to fall. The seven year old boy had no choice but to be himself and that Self said to save his six year old girl, before himself. Her bottom never hit the hard ground.

He didn’t think of himself. Of the pain he might feel with a broken ankle or a broken wrist. He didn’t think of what others would say. Of the ‘why were you’s’ or ‘why didn’t you’s’. He was just his raw, real Self. And that raw, real Self, loved, first.

*          *          *

Hope doesn’t have to be big.

It doesn’t have to be loud.

It doesn’t have to be everywhere

… to change a day.

… to change a life.

… to change … the world.

It just has to be real.