Hope

I look back at the past week and see that there are many reasons I should embrace the blues.  There was, and is, a lot of bad news trying to overwhelm!  Expectations were set then dashed.  Promises were established then tossed aside.  Trust grew then diminished.  Most of the events driving things were small.  It was as if reality was begging everyone in sight walk in ignorance.
 
Much like the blues, there are reasons to be fearful.  The world is an ugly place.  Ugly events hit the innocent as easily as the deserving.  Guilt tears at the hearts of the compassionate far more than it touches those with a heart shaped stone.  Tears flow, from the inside and out, within those we see and in those who live in their own worlds.  Each deals with life as best they can, which often is not for the best.
 
Yet in the ruins and tears, I find incredible visions of hope.  I share the death of a stranger with Carli and she commits to lifting the family in prayer, knowing God will give each a Comforter.  I fight through a series of tough issues, coming out with a friendship stronger for the process.  I drift through sleepless days and nights, discovering peace in the simple act of walking and talking with my best friend.  Hope lives on!  One can find Compassion in the niches of life as well as the open expanses. 
 
I wake in the darkness while my lover sleeps on.  I listen and I can hear God whisper, “My deliverance arrives on the run, my salvation right on time.  I'll bring justice to the peoples.  Even faraway islands will look to me and take hope in my saving power.”  (Isaiah 51.5) 
 
There will be some difficult conversations and painful events this week.  Some are the cycle of life we know.  I hope and pray that we will hold onto God in every event.  Beauty is a comfort in this world of darkness.  Awe is an inspiration when everything seems bleak.  Compassion soothes the most painful cuts.