Now You Can Have Hope

December is a time of love, peace, and joy.  Sometimes we get to see the small flakes of snow that gently covers the ground, sometimes the only part of December we see is the one that comes through holidays.  

For me, December is a time that I get to be done with school, spend time with my family, and to look forward to what’s to come.   Sometimes, I decide to look back on my life.  

When I look back I seem to always see certain points.  Points in my life that really changed me.  I sometimes lose hope in the process.  

Losing hope is almost like losing the last piece of light in a room.  Darkness surrounds you and you start to believe you are alone.  And most of the time, you lose hope when you are struggling or you have struggled.  

That’s the thing though.  Have you ever had a moment in your life where you lost hope?  You haven’t because you are still here.  You are reading this post right now.  Emily Dickinson was a poet who spent most of her time by herself, even though that must of been lonely she had an understanding of most themes around her.  She writes a poem called, Hope is the Thing with Feathers.  It goes like this:

“Hope” is the thing with feathers –
That perches in the soul –
And sings the tune without the words –
And never stops – at all –

And sweetest – in the Gale – is heard –
And sore must be the storm –
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm –

I’ve heard it in the chillest land –
And on the strangest Sea –
Yet – never – in Extremity,
It asked a crumb – of me.

What Dickinson is saying is that hope will always be with you, it never stops being with you.  Even though you can go through so much, you will always have that piece of hope with you. 

I have been bullied many times in my life.  It always seemed to come no matter what I did.  Most of the time I would try to ignore it.  Say that it will all be over soon so there was no point in trying to do something to stop it.  It was almost like I valued my bullies feelings rather than my own.  

During these times I feel bewildered.  I felt as though I was in a box, at the deepest part of the ocean, locked from the outside, keeping me from the light.  

There are many people who have felt this way, whether it was from a bully or not.  One example comes to me from the concentration camps.  Jews and anyone else the Nazis thought were evil, suffered for being and believing in something.  I bet that they felt at many times that they were in that locked box at the bottom of the ocean.  Trapped and afraid.  

There was one, trapped in a cellar.  Placed there because of their beliefs.  

I don’t know their story, but I envision it was someone cold, tired, and hungry, feeling hurt, feeling as though they might have done something wrong.  I see them looking towards a light, no matter how small it is, and thinking of a poem that they then wrote on a cellar door, in the middle of a concentration camp.  That goes:

“I believe in the sun
even when it is not shining
And I believe in love,
even when there’s no one there.
And I believe in God,
even when he is silent.

I believe through any trial,
there is always a way
But sometimes in this suffering
and hopeless despair
My heart cries for shelter,
to know someone’s there
But a voice rises within me, saying hold on
my child, I’ll give you strength,
I’ll give you hope. Just stay a little while.

I believe in the sun
even when it is not shining
And I believe in love
even when there’s no one there
But I believe in God
even when he is silent
I believe through any trial
there is always a way.

May there someday be sunshine
May there someday be happiness
May there someday be love
May there someday be peace….”