Doubts

New York is a great city.  One can define greatness in many ways.  For me, a measure I find compelling is the diversity of its communities.  New York has young, old, creative, analytical, wealthy, and strugglers.  Within this wonderful, chaotic mix are individuals filled with confidence, power, and hope.  The mix also includes those who are cynical, critical, and full of doubt.  Each characteristic plays itself out on New York’s stage in a way that touches the open soul.
 
I find myself holding onto Hope in the face of overwhelming doubts, fears, and uncertainties.  Without Hope, cynicism takes root and flourishes.  Without Hope, it is far too easy to be critical in dealing with the junk life throws at you.  Without Hope, doubt becomes the normal way of seeing everything.  New York is not any different from any other community; I see glimpses of Hope, yet it is always in short supply.  New York has abundant quantities of cynicism, critics, and doubters.
 
It is hard to deal with the negative; every form it takes wants to travel.  In New York, you find its expression in humor, music, and art.  You find its expression in business, theatre, and writings.  It is everywhere!  It grows with abandon.  It permeates without remorse.  It consumes without being satisfied.
 
There is only one answer, Hope.  Often Hope is, especially in New York, in short supply.  As I understand the full meaning of simple principles, values, and facts, my grasp and understanding of Hope changes.  Top of this list is a fact.  The fact applies to you and to me, wherever we live, whatever we do, and in every condition we find ourselves in.  You and I are part of a great family, God’s.  God’s statement of this is plan; “I am God, your Holy One, Creator of Israel, your King.”  (Isaiah 43.15)  We may have our doubts, but the fact is the fact. 
 
Today I vow to live with Hope, responding to the cynic.  Today I will act in Hope, confronting the critic.  Today Hope will fill me, erasing all doubt.