Hope

When we lived in BC we were so very blessed to live on a beautiful acreage at the foot of the mountains. On the acreage was an old homestead, and when I say old I mean old. The cabins were all falling in on themselves and we knew that the road to get to them had most likely been a wagon road at one time. In fact, we learned after we had moved to the acreage that my Grandma on my Mom's side used to go to the main house in that homestead when she was a little girl (Grandma would have been well into her 90s now) and learn how to do needlework. What a place of history and nostalgia! One spring a friend of mine was walking around the homestead and came upon some beautiful flowers. She picked them and showed me where she had found them and every spring from then until we moved I would wait and hope that the flowers would come again. We knew that the flowers were not wild BC flowers but rather would have been planted by someone else who hoped to see them every spring and here they still were, years and years after the inhabitants had left, fighting through the knee high grass and weeds to emerge every spring. We did transplant some of them at one point to Mom's garden but when we left BC we forgot to bring any with us. So last fall I went on a hunt and finally found a greenhouse in BC that sold the bulbs. They are hard to come by in Canada. They are a type of daffodil, a narcissus. Last fall I planted them and hoped and hoped and hoped that they would grow as they are by far my most favorite flower ever. As you can see in the above photo they came up! I have only had two blooms so far this year but I know that next year there will be even more! They are such a delicate, beautiful flower and they have such a beautiful fragrance, like nothing you have smelled before. To me they are a sign of hope. Through the harsh winters they are in the cold dark earth just waiting to pop their heads through the ground so that they can grow and bloom in the sun once again. Hope is such an important part of my life and I am so thankful for this reminder of persevering and the beauty that can come from waiting and biding our time so that when the time is right and the sun comes out we can bloom in beauty and grace.

HOPE

Hope means to keep living

amid desperation,

and to keep humming in darkness.

Hoping is knowing that there is love,

it is trust in tomorrow

it is falling asleep

and waking again

when the sun rises.

In the midst of a gale at sea,

it is to discover land.

In the eye of another

it is to see that he understands you.

As long as there is still hope

there will also be prayer.

And God will be holding you 

in His hands.

Henri Nouwen