Hope

"Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul." - Emily Dickinson

I don't photograph very many birds, except maybe sea gulls at the beach. This little guy was perched along the path near Old Faithful geyser in Yellowstone National Park. It was a cool day as you can see by the dark clouds behind him and his feathers were ruffling in the wind. I expected him to fly away the second the I stopped, but he let me take one picture of him. Maybe he was "frozen" in his spot and didn't have the energy to fly away. Anyway, I was rather surprised when I downloaded my pictures after that trip to find this photo, I like it. Even though it's dark and brooding, this bird speaks of perseverance in spite of the dreary weather. He speaks of "hope." I think this is a bluebird. Is he the "bluebird of happiness"?

I came home today in a foul mood, very little had gone right today, it seemed. As I was lamenting to hubby, I was glancing at a catalog and found the verse by Emily Dickinson. When I read it and I felt that there has to be hope somewhere in my job, in my day. I thought of this picture. Maybe, hope comes in a once-in-my-lifetime picture. Maybe, hope just perches nearby and allows us to ponder the beauty of it's feathers as they ruffle in the winds. Winds of change, winds of chaos. Maybe, even winds of contentment, if we allow it.

Yes, today I came home blowing like the wind. Blowing out words of discontentment and frustration. Once I "blew" myself out, I finally could sit and enjoy the evening and allow this little bluebird of happiness to "brighten" my day.

Willing

"I'm willing to believe
There's hope for me"

I like that ditty I made up this morning. The acronym HOW = Honest, Open and Willing, I have mentioned before and this morning I thought of that word, "willing."

This morning I got up an hour earlier as I had an early morning work function. Last night, hubby reminded me, or I should say stated, "You're going to walk tomorrow. You already missed one day this week." I forgot I gave him permission to keep me in line! Anyway, I went to bed early and set my alarm for an hour earlier. Woke up before the alarm and off I went walking, thankfully, it's no darker here at 4:55 than it is at 5:55. I am willing to do this because I believe that walking exercises my muscles & makes them stronger. Walking boosts my metobolism so that at the present time I can lose weight and in the future maintain a good weight. I believe in the postive aspects of walking and I'm willing to forgo an extra hour of sleep.

On a more serious matter, willingness was a major component to starting this change in my lifestyle. And once we start, we must keep the fire of willingness burning. If willingness burns out, do we lose hope? Is it vice versa? Thoughts to ponder and I'm willing to do just that.

Quotes and Prayer

Today, I would like to share some quotes that I have found in the past few days readings.

Oprah in her O magazine: ".... recognize that no one is responsible for your life but you. That you're creating your current and future reality thought by thought. And that what you give your attention to only gets bigger and manifests itself in the world. So try to live a life focusing on what's good and what you're grateful for, in order to have more goodness. This doesn't mean you're in control of everything, or that only good is going to come. Bad stuff still happens. Other people are working out their own energies, and sometimes those energies are destructive. ..... But the wonder of life is that even in despair, when things seem hopeless, you still get to choose who you want to be and how to respond...... Every day the path to your own spirituality starts with clarifying who you are and what you want. Not just things - things are easy. I mean the stuff that really matters. Life isn't just about what you can have; it's about what you have to give. What kind of person do you want to be? Start asking these questions and thinking about the bigger picture - why you're here, why the world needs what you have to offer."

Another quote, "A man asks a rabbi, 'Why does God write the law on our heart? Why not in our heart? It's the inside of the heart that needs God.' The rabbi answered, 'God never forces anything into a human heart. He writes the word on our hearts so that when our hearts break, God falls in.'"

A couple of weeks back I shared about my questioning why we should pray, if God does not answer everyone's prayers. The above quotes got me thinking about "bad stuff" & people's destructive actions and how we can choose how we will respond to this. Also, God does not force us to believe, but is there in our despair.

The other night I said a prayer for two of my sisters. One is a sister by blood and the other is a "sister" by bonding. They are each suffering pain and despair due to the man in her life. I readily admitted in my prayer that "I don't know if this is being heard or being paid attention, but please help ...... " I had felt so helpless for my sisters being so far away from them, that I couldn't give a hug or a shoulder to cry on. But when I finished my prayer, I did feel hope. Hope that there is a bigger being, bigger spirit, a bigger whatever-out-there that could comfort and help my sisters, even if I could not help them.

Oprah asks, "what kind of person do you want to be?" I am a adventurous, introspective child that's gotten older. How can a adventurous and introspective person give to the world?