I took a walk yesterday along part of the Discovery Trail with my dog. It was nice, quiet, just enjoying a little bit of the sunshine and nature. As I was wandering, taking pictures, I looked up ahead of me and saw there was a bend in the trail. I thought “I wonder what’s around that bend?”.I realized, as I rounded the bend and saw the next one up ahead I would continue along still wondering what I might find, it was a perfect example of hope.
You see, often times we find ourselves struggling along in life and we hold out for what must be “around the corner” to find the “light at the end of the tunnel”. Our strength is often born, not in what we are walking through, but what we are walking to. The idea that as we continue along, even when faced with more adversity, that there is something more, something better, around the bend.
It also got me to thinking about when we give up.
I wandered around four bends before I needed to turn around and head back to my car. (It was more about time than not being willing to continue to follow the trail along. Plus, I know that this trail is miles and miles long.) I realized how different people are and what stops someone from having hope that the answer is right… there… They don’t want to follow the curve because of the incline or they are tired and need to rest.
Mostly though, I thought about how I have witnessed the resilience and strength of humanity. How much I admire those who have struggled through so much and came out the other side as shining examples of what can be accomplished. I am certain there were moments when they wanted to just lay down and say forget it. They didn’t.
We are strong. We are courageous. Despite circumstances that could point otherwise; we do make it around the bend and the one after that and the one after that, just by holding on to a little thing called “hope”.