at some point we have to stop being hopeless and BECOME hopeful...

...it takes a hell of a lot more energy to be hopeless than to be hopeful..

“they say a person needs just three things to be truly happy in this world: someone to love, something to do, and something to hope for.” 
(Tom Bodett)

if you happen to take a gander at the internet or a newspaper, or listen to the radio, or watch TV...you are probably feeling a little hopeless...so much violence, so much hate, so much anger...so many people are questioning whether walking out the door is worth it, b/c who knows what will happen...that I cannot answer for you, however i heard once, "don't let the fear of living stop you from living"...i am not going to spend the next however long this post should last talking about what happened, however I will say, may God have mercy on all those involved, and that i will be praying for peace, and love..."love conquers all"...not hate....i will also go on to tell you what i did see in the last few weeks, that allows me to believe that HOPE is out there...

....hope is there when i hear the excitement in the voice of my niece over her 10th birthday party...hope is reading about a young girl, who keeps on fighting and bringing smiles to those around her, whose heart/body although may have some physical defects shows no defects whatsoever when you meet her and witness her outstanding personality...hope is watching my students take a few extra moments and some patience to work with a student with special needs...hope is watching not 1 but 2 workers at local restaurant run after the bus so an older gentleman can catch it...hope is honoring people's memories that we have lost, by allowing them to live on through our love...hope is reading a great article about a woman who saw the beauty in cake decorations, no matter what they look like...hope is having someone to love and to be loved...hope is watching people fight & beat cancer & other diseases...hope is watching two people under the eyes of God and in front of their family & friends proclaim their love...hope is witnessing all people from all walks of like work together for a greater cause than just their own...hope is in smiles, and hugs, and laughter, and even tears...hope is looking to the sky and watching the heavens shine bright b/c of all the bright stars, and knowing our hearts are sad but our lives were that much brighter b/c of them...hope is new babies, and new life...hope is knowing that a bad moment cannot last forever...hope is so much more than this post ...hope is not the things we see, read, or hear about on a daily basis, hope is found all around us, we just sometimes have to look a little harder to find it...it is there, it never goes away...
...so the next time you read, see, or hear something that makes you feel so hopeless, don't stop there but rather look around and find the things that make you feel hopeful...and then take that hope and use it to turn hate into love, conflict into peace...use it as your motivation to live for a better world...