Hope Is Our Song

Emily Dickinson tells us that:

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune
without the words,
And never stops at all...

Peter the former cuss bucket, the once cowardly disciple, the distant disavower- now Peter the forgiven much and much-loving friend and faithful follower says it even more beautifully:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 1 Peter 1:3

Everything about Jesus is all about life. Born again to a living hope. Is there really any other kind? Cells that are alive reproduce and multiply. Hope falls into that category.

A few years ago on a sunny June morning our lovely old dog, Jazz, took a last roll in the summer grass and departed this life to wherever truly wonderful dogs go. Her loss was deeply felt. She was a great friend. Also a great shedder as evidenced by the large amount of dog hair on the lawn even a week later. John, the old softie, just could not bring himself to cut the grass and erase all evidence of her last happy moments.

But God has built hope into the Creation and it is everywhere for the looking. That sad summer I was looking. What I saw filed me with gasping, giggling, delicious hope. From the top step of my front porch I saw wave after wave of songbirds salvaging the last of Jazz and flying off to tuck her soft velvet fur into their newly constructed nests.

Jazz, bird lover that she was, would have approved. Life was carrying on and providing a soft landing for hope filled eggs. I hugged God in my heart at that moment. I wonder how many baby birds were born that summer who thought home smelled like dog.


There is a Chinese proverb that says, "If you keep a green bough in your heart a singing bird will come."

Hope is both bough and bird...and sometimes bird dog.

Hope is our song.

-Kat

Pastel bird nest (Hope Comes In Threes) is a gift from
Rebecca Steel Jeter