Hope - How Do We Give It

Hope.

Noun:

1. a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen

Verb:

1. want something to happen or be the case

How Do We Give It?

Is It Measurable?

Can We Decide What It Looks Like For Another?

What Will Hope Look Like?  

On my last trip to Haiti I got to sit and talk with each one of these ladies. 

I admit I think they are beautiful and I admire them.

These five represent each class at the Women's Education Center. 

They act as Ambassador's, they are the voice for each class.

There are 130 women in school this year who will graduate in June.

At the end of my day, as I drove back to the house, we sat in traffic. Just like rush hour in any other city, but this city happened to be on edge because of the election run off results. 

For days everyone was on edge with reports of what "could be" for the next few days. 

Based on their history, none of it would be good.

Still, the ladies would come to school each day as they waited for news. I asked if they wanted to leave, to get home "before" trouble started. 

No, they would stay and talk with me. 

They shared their stories about life, family and why they came to school. Some for three years to learn literacy, sewing, cooking, cake decoration and crafts.

Now, as I sat waiting in the sea of traffic, unsure myself of what was happening on the streets, I thought about their words. 

About hope.

I was wrestling.

Life was hard.

I thought about Jacob.

The Jacob who wrestled with hope.

It doesn't say He wrestled with hope exactly, but if you know his story it was messy. 

He was looking for a new beginning.

Did I understand the weight of hopelessness and what it would look like for these ladies to not have the chance for an education?

Isn't hope woven in every new beginning? 

By definition: "A feeling of expectation, a desire for a certain thing to happen."

As we finished, I was cleaning up my notes and adding a few details when one of the ladies said to me, 

"this is where I found the way to my dream"

Whether a noun or verb, we can't dismiss hope is measurable in each and every life we come across on this journey.

I thought about the ladies sitting in traffic. I thought about the fact that we all draw on hope and the chance for new beginnings no matter where are live. 

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Genesis 32:28

...you have struggled and have overcome.