Gratitude for Hope in my Heart

Hope

Is the only thing

Stronger than

Fear.

Isn't that tree beautiful?  Look how it continues to grow in spite of being struck by lightening and having branches broken in the high winds that whip through the mountains.  It continues to flourish in spite of the difficulties that surround it.  It reminds me that there is always hope.  Where one might see only pain, yet life goes on and the green comes.  Home cometh in the morning.  

There have been so many things in my life that I am afraid of.  I have always been afraid of heights, I am afraid of the dark (really, the outside kind that doesn't have street lights).  I am afraid of bad things happening to those that I love.  I am so afraid of not being good enough to live in Heaven.  I am afraid of disappointing others.  My fears are many and vast.  I have had a lifetime to put them together.

But, in spite of all the fears, I find that I still have hope.  Hope that this life is not the end.  Hope in a better tomorrow.  Hope that somehow, things will work out for the best.  Hope that my children will choose the right.  Hope that we will know happiness.  So much hope even in the fear.

We all have things in life that we are afraid of.  Things that make us shiver in the night (or even the day).  The only thing that gets us through the fears is to find hope somewhere deep within.  Hope will get us through the night until the light burns bright again.  Hope will endure.