July 13, 2014

Good Morning friends! Guess what day it is? Here's a little Sunday message for you: When we first arrived at Bear Lake on Monday, we saw a nest of baby birds just outside the women's rest room. The nest was up about 10 feet high, and the mother would come and go trying to keep the babies fed. As we came and went, we enjoyed watching their little mouths begging for food. Early Wednesday morning, my sister in law approached the bathroom and realized that someone had knocked the nest down during the night. She hurried to my other sister in law, who has had experience rehabilitating birds, and told her what had happened. They realized that 2 birds had not survived the fall and quickly scooped up the remaining 3. For the rest of the trip, she painstakingly fed those 3 birds (til we lost one more) every couple of hours, coaxing their mouths open with tweezers. Some people would say, "It's part of nature" or "It's not my problem" or, of course, "They're probably not going to make it anyway, why bother!"  Do you know why? One word. HOPE. Maybe they wouldn't make it. Maybe they were too young, or had been injured too much. But.....maybe they WOULD. Hope holds a very special place in my heart. It has the power to change everything. Of course, hope has to be combined with action. But even the slightest glimmer of hope can push us to action. Hope is very powerful. To some (like me) there is hope of a Higher Being, a Heaven, a better place. We all hope for a better future for our families, our jobs, our country. In a seemingly evil world, we hope for peace, for prosperity, for good to prevail. We have all had hard times in our lives, when we have lost hope. We feel that there is nothing good to come, or that we can never make it past that time. But hope can change even the darkest times. Hope has the power to lift us from the chasms of abuse. Hope can release us from the clutches of addiction. Hope can give us strength and courage through health problems, job problems, family problems. It can change hearts, and in so doing, can change the world.  To those who are the continual optimists, who almost constantly maintain hope in their lives, I say, keep it up! You are a light and beacon to those around you. YOU make a difference.  And to those who are struggling with difficult times, I say, HANG ON. Don't give up hope. There is PEACE and LIGHT and HAPPINESS ahead.  Have a wonderful day. My hope is that all of you know that I love you and that you are important. Love to All. ♥