~day 31~ Intangible

These last 30 days I have written about Hope.  I have written about my perceptions of hope.  I have written about the things that bring me hope.  I have written about the things I hoped would help you see hope in your own life.  More than once in this journey I thought

"But hope is intangible

untouchable

a feeling

like faith

ephemeral "

(mostly because i wanted to use that word)

So what I'm really showing is the evidence of hope.  Like that old quote, I think from Billy Graham,

Can you see the wind? I can't see the wind.  

I can see the effects of the wind, 

but I can't see the wind.

Like faith
or hope
or love
or peace.
"Peace that surpasses understanding."  How do you explain to someone what peace is?
The same way you explain the wind.  The same way you explain faith.  You show evidence.
I have seen hope in so many new places in my life.  In so many new situations.

I am sure I have written about the parable of the King who wanted to know if his kingdom had more weeds or more roses.  He called two servants up and sent them out into his kingdom. One of them was to count the weeds, the other to count the roses.  When they returned the servant charged with counting the weeds was trembling and afraid as he approached the King.  He was greatly dismayed and on the verge of tears.  "Your Highness I am so sorry.  I had hoped to have a different answer for you.  But your kingdom is full of weeds.  From one end to the other."  The King thanked him for his efforts and asked for the 2nd servant to share what he found.  He was full of joy and bound into the King's presence with great joy.  "Your Highness, I counted and counted and counted your roses.  There are so many I lost count many times.  I tried to keep track with stones and marks and nothing worked, there were too many to be counted." (my paraphrase and elaboration).  The moral to this story being: What you look for, you will find.

If you spend your life looking for weeds, you will find weeds.
If you spend your life looking for roses, you will find roses.

I tend to look for weeds.  When left to my own natural bent, I see the bad, the potential for destruction or hurt, the negative possibilities. In spending these 31 days writing about Hope, I had to look for hope.  I forced myself to look for roses instead of weeds.  Through that I realized that I am a more positive person than I thought, certainly more moderate than negative.  As my counselor has told me a number of times, Stop being so hard on yourself.  In so many areas of life I have such a ridiculously high expectation of myself that it would be nearly impossible for me to achieve even if only in one area.  However, I try to achieve this Highest Standard in every area simultaneously.  When I inevitably fail it is more proof that there are more weeds in my kingdom than roses.  Through counseling, good friends, blogging, reading other good writers I am coming to be more gracious with myself.

I am beginning to see that the roses in my world truly do outnumber the weeds greatly.  Even if some of those weeds are the huge nasty ones that someone left alone a week too long because they weren't sure if it was a weed or a flower.  Here is my hope for you, as we look towards this holiday season that becomes so much nonsense, watch for the roses.  Don't focus so much on eliminating the weeds, watch for the roses and enjoy their place in your life.

But as for me, I wil hope continually,

And will Praise you yet more and more

Psalm 71:14

p.s. I will be mostly absent these next 30 days.  I will be writing my 3rd novel, Oblivion, for NaNoWriMo.  If you have enjoyed this series or wish to encourage writers in our pursuit of fiction, click on over to the righthand Sponsorship blog on the site and throw some money at a GREAT organization.