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Sharing hope~


The other day I took a walk along the power lines without my camera. I do that when I'm weary of my photographic eye being on high alert. I take mental pictures anyway--can't help it--but when I have my camera I stop-focus-snap-stop-focus-snap throughout the walk.

This particular day I just needed to walk and think after sitting too long at my laptop. I wanted to move, and breathe, and find that quiet place in my mind. I walked faster than I do with the camera, which felt good. I did stop, but only twice: to feel the satiny, grey pussy willows the size of new peas, and to listen to the faint song of spring peepers--chirping tree frogs whose melodious chorus means spring is really here to stay.

Rounding a turn I caught a familiar shape from the corner of my eye. Among plants that fringe the trail was a brown strand of grass whose tip curled into a shape like the breast cancer support ribbon.

I thought instantly of a friend I met through the blogosphere who is entering the dreaded territory of breast cancer. I thought of her faith, her bravery, her determination to learn something from this adventure she had not asked for. And it seemed this hopeful symbol, crowded by a tangle of vines and prickles, was a confirmation that hope and blessing exist, there is reason for faith, even when we are trapped in a thorny thicket.

I returned the next day to get a picture. Hope should be shared.
~~~~~
Hope is faith holding out its hand in the dark.~George Iles

***I'm reading this post six years after writing it. I've removed the links to my friends blog as they are inactive. I hope she's ... just too busy to blog.

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Wanda said…
My dear friend Ruth ~~ your gift of words has touch me deeply again.

"...and it seemed this hopeful symbol, crowded by a tangle of vines and prickles, was a confirmation that hope and blessing exist, there is a reason for faith, even when we are trapped in a thorny thicket."

Ruth thank you for you love, concern, and now this truly encouraging post... I will hold on to this over the next months on my journey.

Love and Hugs
Wanda
April 3, 2009 at 9:31 PM
Pauline said…
Your posts always make me think beyond my casual conclusions about things. Hope and faith appear to be an inextricably linked part of human nature. That we can find symbols in nature itself seems proof of our ability to believe in more than ourselves and it is this faith, I think, this insistence that we are more than just a bag of bones wandering aimlessly in a meaningless universe, that gives us the courage to face those unasked for adventures.
April 4, 2009 at 5:51 AM
Bob Sanchez said…
What a sharp, observant eye you have, Ruth.

Bob
April 25, 2009 at 1:15 PM
Gilion at Rose City Reader said…
And the pictures are gorgeous.
June 22, 2009 at 2:38 PM
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