"...a thing with feathers..."

hope...

a thing...
with feathers...
that perches ...
in the soul...

and sings
a 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...

["Hope" Emily Dickinson]

it "springs eternal"...
we hope "all things"...
it is the wind beneath our wings...
a whispered prayer...

it is where we are to live...
when we trust God with our lives...
and all that we need...
but, do we ?
hope...that is...



for so many of us...hope is easily "startled" away...
circumstances cause us fear or anxiety...
and our hope takes wing to flee...
leaving us with only our emptiness...
and inability to bring back that we need the most...

and, "pack animals" that we humans are...
no matter how much we enjoy our solitude...
we follow each other... feed off the group...
but then... that's just "being human"...

but Jesus became human...
conquering fear and death for us...
so that we could control the fears...
that startle our hope to take panicked flight...




and when we allow our hope to be gone so quickly...
we disrespect the awesome gift of Jesus...
who asks only that we trust Him...
and "hope all things..."
"waiting with joyful hope for the miracles to come..."



abiding ...is hard...
it is hopeful trust in God...
and in all the good He has in store for us...
joyful, thankfulness for all the circumstances of our lives...



it is waiting...

hopefully... thankfully... joyfully...

trust in action...



when your tears wash away ...
nearly all vestiges of of your heart's desires...
when only the essence remains
of that which was so hopeful...

and becomes a knife in your heart...
a hole to hide deep in...
you always have that last, thing with feathers...
to cling to...abide in...
and be safe...



safe...
to be wholly "hopeful"...
to allow the feathered thing ...
to take flight on wings of joy...
free to soar...
to attain heights ...
only dreamed of...



and when our days here...
have run their course...
we hope...
to find our rest...
forever...
in that Hope...