Elevator

        It's days like today that I feel hopeful. Days when nothing particularly amazing happens, but yet I'm caught in a whirlwind of gratitude. It's days like today when life is enough to hold at the end of the day. Circumstances haven't changed for better or for worse, but there is an unchanging and unshakable foundation of hope that I find myself standing on. Most days, hope looks like a thin sheet of glass that I am standing on high above the earth below me--like the see through floor of an elevator in a posh London highrise. The foundation has tested strong, but I look down and am filled with momentary fear. Today, despite looking down, I realize that hope isn't as fragile as I often think it is.

       Hope- expectation - expectancy - expectant - trust - promise

    
       In the definition itself, hope has nothing to do with emotion. It's an attitude. Hope is a truth buried within us--one that sustains despite circumstance. I often think that hope relies solely on how I feel in a given moment. I either feel hopeful or I don't. I hope for something or I doubt. Hope is often discussed like it is some fragile state of being--like it could shatter like the glass floor of an elevator. Hope isn't weak; it is tough. It's audacious and unapologetic. It doesn't crumble at the sight of fear or shrink back at defeat. Hope carries us even when we are broken.

       Hope found in God is the most beautiful of all. Set aside from him is there any hope at all? It partners with faith and they cling intimately like fingerprints on glass. I have held hope tightly recently--both for myself and those in my life that are facing heartache. Hope coupled with faith runs through my veins not because I am strong, but because at times of despair it's all that we have. God supplies us with hope and faith because he knows that we will need them more than the ground needs water to sustain growth. Today, I am hopeful and faithful.

       I stand on the seemingly fragile foundation that appears that it may shatter beneath my feet. The truth is, hope is stronger than I will ever know and it's going to lift me up one floor; one trial at a time.