Circle of Hope

I am a new mother.  Dominick, my son, is now 3 months old.  I have learned about hope from Dominick.  When Dominick was about 2 weeks old he became very fussy. Basically, anytime he was awake, he was crying.  Nothing we did seemed to help, except walking up and down the stairs.  I cried many tears of frustration during those weeks.  But I learned about a mother’s endless hope.  Because I love my little one so much and want the best for him, all I could do was hope.  I hoped that someday he would enjoy life and that he would not be fussy for the rest of his life.  In the midst of a very difficult time, I held on to the hope that Dominick would grow and develop out of his fussiness.

            I am often overcome with hopelessness.  I see our city full of violence. I see people making destructive choices. I don’t see the growth in my own life that I would like to see.  I wonder if people can really change.  But I have learned that I can have hope.  In fact, sometimes that is all I can have.  I want to love others to such an extent that I can’t give up hope, that all I can do is hope. And this hope is not an empty hope because Jesus is our hope.  He has promised us new life.

            Dominick did get better. He now smiles and is happy for longer periods of time.  He is growing and developing at such a fast rate.  His growth and development make me long for the growth and development of myself, our community, and our city.  And now I am more hopeful that it will happen.  I cannot give up trying to contribute to that growth and development because I love my city and community too much.