Hope, the gift of courage

It is quiet in the night and I am staring down the barrel of Christmas Eve.  I realize there are so many things I have to be grateful for.  My cousin’s husband went into liver failure rather suddenly, and needed a donor organ. It was the night of the solstice, deeply cold and very dark because of the storm coming in.  Many things went around in my mind about the sacredness of the season but the understanding of new beginnings and renewal was in the forefront of everything.  I went into the darkness with the thought of what mattered to me.

I am a facebooker, I scroll; a lot.  One of my cyber friendships asked us all, “What are you choosing?”  My response was, Hope.  I looked up Pandora’s myth and what it said was hope was the last evil.  I read further at how hope was a double edged sword.  The writer said that it would lead people to greater suffering. I looked up more of Hope, it implies little certainty but suggests confidence or assurance in the possibility that what one desires or longs for will happen. 

To have hope in the face of an oppressor is seen as a weakness by the tyrant. An opportunity to bring greater suffering.  Having hope to me, is to have courage and strength of character in the face of sorrow or fear.

In the dawn of the 22 of December, they found a donor liver for my cousin.  I hold hope that everything will be okay for now for him, for my cousin his wife, for all of us.

I look back on my life and I see no great suffering; loss, but no huge emptiness of pain.  My life has been balanced and I am content with that.  I will continue to shoulder the burden of hope, there are too many good things out there.  I will have faith in my hopes, for me and my family of kin and friends.  I hope you can too for those you love.