My favorite movie when I was young was Peter Pan; I longed to be sprinkled with stardust and fly out my window! As an adult, I find nothing as exhilarating as that moment when my plane enters a bank of clouds. Some women may wish to be "Queen for a Day;" I'd love to be "Bird for a Day."
Which is why I totally agree with American poet Emily Dickinson, who imagined Hope as a high-flying bird:
Hope is the thing with feathers-
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tunes 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.
High Flying Hope gives us a bird's eye view of our life - a soaring personal vision of what we are capable of that strengthens us, sustains us, and makes our life worth living. The feathers of hope will keep us warm and safe when we are deluged by storms of disappointment, tragedy, or the temptation to despair.
Albert Einstein had that bird's eye view: "Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The most important thing is not to stop questioning."
Hope is the uplifting virtue that has animated the lives of exceptional people who have had exceptionally hard challenges and yet have never given up.
Jonas Salk, world-renowned medical researcher and virologist, labored over seven years before he discovered the first successful inactive vaccine for the world plague of the 1950's: polio. He said "Hope lies in dreams, in imagination, and in the courage of those who dare to make dreams into reality."
Interestingly, Salk never patented his vaccine. When asked why, he asked this question in return: "Could you patent the sun?"
Hope is the perfect antidote to our fears and our hurts. It realigns our thinking, showing us the reality of what is most important about ourselves:
"Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but your unfulfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what it is still possible for you to do."(Pope John the XXIII.)
Martin Luther King, Jr. said "We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope."
Hope is infinite because Hope is, most of all, trust in an infinite God and trust in our relationship with Him. Hope is trust that He has given us gifts and talents to accomplish great, good things, and that He will guide and care for us. Soaring hope might seem impractical; its dreams might appear to be illusions. Yet if we trust in God Who trusts in us, we will trust in ourselves and have the courage to become who we truly are.
Think of what Jesus said about the birds that wheel and swoop and sing joyously all day long, true to their natures: "Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your Heavenly Father feeds them." (Matthew 6:26.)
In the end, Hope will lead us unerringly to fullness of life in Heaven.
May God open the eyes of your heart so that you recognize your personal gift of Hope.