"Men are that they might have joy..."

Happiness comes in small moments of laughter and surprise. Joy is a destination - something that we reach after all of the lessons have been learned, and blessings counted. This is my journey to joy, one baby step at a time...

Friday, March 23, 2012

COUNTING MY BLESSINGS (15): Hope Floats

One of my favorite movies is Hope Floats.  I liked it before I saw it, because the title is profound.  Hope floats, no matter how deep the ocean of despair, anguish, mourning, or sorrow, just like a magic bubble hope will work its way to the surface of our consciousness and bob into view like a bouy. 


Then I watched the movie, and I liked it even more.  Sandra Bullock's character is an aging 'queen of corn' prom queen whose husband has cheated on her, humiliated her on national television, and sent her packing to her home town and parents to lick her wounds.  Her daughter is a spunky kid who wants her Dad, and can't understand her Mother's inability to cope.  Grandma is a taxidermist who is trying to hold her family emotionally together, and the little cousin who lives with them hides his feeling of abandonment behind silly costumes.  Toss in Harry Connick Jr. in all his handsome glory and theme song, and you've got a blockbuster.  Through all of the turmoil and angst, the Grandmother reminds them that Hope Floats, and will get them through it.

I read a quote from an Emily Dickensen poem today while doing some studying:

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all...

What exactly is Hope?  I've been thinking about this all day today.  I think hope is that one shred of joy buried in our soul that never dies, no matter what struggles pile up on top of us and threaten to eat us alive.  It may get buried beneath earthly trials and daily disappointment, and is often out of sight for a time, but hope is always working its way to the surface ready to remind us of all that we have and all the amazing things that can be.  Hope is ultimately what makes the hard times bearable, because everything good in life that is worth having is something that we have hoped for in the past, or are hoping for our future.

It just floats.

1 comment:

  1. Beautiful again...and very profound and true...Keep going, Kath...This lifts my day too...

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