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,
If you can see the good in other people,
Then you still have HOPE.

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 yourfingertips,
If you meet new people with a trace of excitement and optimism,
If you give people the benefit of a doubt,
Then you still have HOPE.

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,
If the suffering of others still fills you with pain and frustration, f you refuse to let a friendship die, or accept that it must end,
If you look forward to a time or place of quiet and reflection,
Then you still have HOPE.

If you still buy the ornaments, put up the Christmas tree or cook the turkey,
If you still watch love stories or want the endings to be happy, then you still have hope.
If you can look to the past and smile, then you still have hope.
If, when faced with the bad, 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 of the 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.

Never lose hope.
Author Unknown
Oct 31 2008

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