How do you live inside hope?

…if you’re lucky, you’ll find a way to live inside hope, running down its hallways touching the walls on both sides.

— Barbara Kingsolver

Puts me in mind of the time I learned to dance on a moving log…

Hope arouses a passion for the possible.

— William Sloan Coffin

There I was, arms flailing in a desperate attempt to stay upright on the suspended rough hewn pine log… consumed with the fear of falling… ready to give up almost before I’d begun…

To hope is to risk pain. To try is to risk failure, but risk must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.

— Unknown

Of course this was a ropes course so there were spotters on either side to protect me from falling. Which meant that my fears were all in my head.  I might injure my pride, suffer a few bruises, feel a wee bit foolish, but I wasn’t going to fall.

When the world says, “Give up,” Hope whispers, “Try it one more time.”

— Unknown

But, you see, I didn’t think it was kosher to take advantage of the spotters. They were there to catch me if I fell.  And my job was to “not fall”.  Or so I thought.

Hope is faith holding out its hand in the dark.

— George Iles

Eventually my coach suggested: “If you help yourself by using your spotters instead of dodging them you could be dancing!”   To which I sarcastically muttered “Sure thing.”  And contemplated my imminent and ungainly fall from grace.

Hope gives us the power to step out and try.

— Unknown

But hope (and curiosity) won out over pride and, with fear in my heart, I brazenly – before I could change my mind – lunged forward several steps.  And, ever so tentatively, let my fingers touch the spotters’ out-stretched hands…

And, wonder of wonders, in very short order, I was DANCING!  On a moving log!

Never let go of hope. One day you will see that it all has finally come together. What you have always wished for has finally come to be. You will look back and laugh at what has passed and you will ask yourself… “How did I get through all of that?”

— Unknown

What fun I had once I got the rhythm of it!  Like a little kid, I wanted to do it again and again.

When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, “I used everything you gave me.”

— Erma Bombeck

How do you live inside hope?  Brazenly you dance upon the moving log and trust that God will give you spotters where you need them!