A Reflection on Hope

If you can look at the sunset and smile,
If you can find beauty in the colors of a small flower,
If you can find pleasure in the movement of a butterfly,
If the smile of a child can still warm your heart,
Then you still have hope.

If you can see the good in other people,
If the rain breaking on a roof top can still lull you to sleep,
If the sight of a rainbow still makes you stop and stare in wonder,
If the soft fur of a favored pet still feels pleasant under your fingertips,
Then you still have hope.

If you meet new people with a trace of excitement and optimism,
If you give people the benefit of the doubt,
If you still offer your hand in friendship to others that have touched your life,
If receiving an unexpected card or letter still brings a pleasant surprise,
Then you still have hope.

If the suffering of others still fills you with pain and frustration,
If you refuse to let a friendship die, or accept that it must end,
Then you still have hope.

If you look forward to a time or place of quiet and reflection,
If you still buy the ornaments, lighting candles around the house, believing that a candle loses nothing by lighting another candle.
If you still watch love stories or want the endings to be happy,
If you can look to the past and smile,
Then you still have hope.

If, when faced with the bad or when told everything is futile, you can still look up and end the conversation with the phrase “yeah, BUT..”
Then you still have hope.

Hope is such a marvelous thing.
It bends, it twists, it sometimes hides, but rarely does it break.
It sustains us when nothing else can.
It gives us reason to continue and courage to move ahead, when we tell ourselves we’d rather give in.
Hope puts a smile on our face when the heart cannot manage.
Hope puts our feet on the path when our eyes cannot see it.
Hope moves us to act when our souls are confused about direction.
Hope is a wonderful thing, something to be cherished and nurtured, and something that will refresh us in return.
And it can be found in each of us, and it can bring light into the darkest of places..
We all can use a little hope sometimes, that feeling that everything is going to be okay, and that there’s going to be someone out there to help make sure of that.

Any chance you get to touch a life with kindness, take it!
By changing individuals, we change the world. For some people hope is all they have. Encourage them and don’t take their hope away, for they will be left with nothing. There is a great satisfaction in being an ‘angel’ in someone else’s life. Maybe someone only needs an act of kindness to have hope in humanity; and you will be their source of hope. Never, ever lose Hope…

Much Love: Mitra Shahidi