May I Offer You Some Hope?

(This a picture my beautiful young cousin Kendall took of herself with Nikky's phone a few years back...it still inspires me and makes me smile and feel hopeful)

The following is a poem my Uncle Jon pointed out to me in a book he once used for a class he taught called God at the Mall by Pete Ward. The poem was written by Anna Chakka George & Fiona Macleod. So here goes:

Some people say - life is a circle -

you're born - you grow up - you work

you grow old - you die.

Some people say - what will be, will be.

Some people say, "There are no jobs

so no one will want me."

Some people say, "There will always

be war -

what can I do about it?"

Some people say, "There will always be homelessness -

tis a shame."

Some people say, "The world's a terrible place

and I want no part in it."

Some people say - "Who knows what my life will be like

tomorrow, I'll just wait and see."

Hope says "Bullshit."

Hope helps you see a different reality,

a world where anything is possible

not just for tomorrow but for today.

Hope helps you see, not just what things could be like

but what today is like

in a different light.

Hope is not an empty promise

or a dream of escaping.

Hope changes the color of

the world we live in.

Hope changes our faces from

the faces of the bored and the defeated

to the faces of those who

see life as an adventure.

Life requires risk, experiment,

adventure, possiblity.

In short,

life requires hope.

If there's no hope, there's no point.

With God there's never no point.