Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Strategic Monk

Home
Contemplative
Practices From the Inside Out: Hope on a Spring Morning

Practices From the Inside Out: Hope on a Spring Morning

Last updated on: April 27, 2019 at 2:38 am by Greg Richardson

Practices From the Inside Out: Hope on a Spring Morning 2019-04-27T02:38:42-08:00 Greg Richardson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Hope on a Spring Morning

The sun dawns a little earlier on each spiring morning. Every day of spring brings a little more light and a little more warmth.

We fold up winter and put it away for a few months.

While winter mornings are a struggle and a challenge, a spring morning can be a revelation. The dark, grey world in which we thought we slept is, in fact, a celebration of colors.

We wake up to more than sunlight on a spring morning. As we practice opening our eyes we realize each morning is more than a list of things to do. A cup of tea helps us see hope on a spring morning.

Each morning reminds us it holds more than we expect.

Some of us have lost our hope during a long, cold, challenging winter. It is all we can do to keep moving and keep getting up each morning. Just as we were running out of firewood, out of energy, out of hope, spring arrived to keep us going.

It is easy for us to miss how spring turns the world around us brighter and warmer each morning. Our eyes are barely open each morning as we fumble our way toward emerging from our cocoon.

Some of us have been burned by hope and prefer to live without it.

We have enough of a challenge dealing with what we already expect. Why would we want more?

When we are ready to listen we sit for a few minutes and appreciate the hope of a spring morning.

Drinking our tea we slowly open ourselves to the hope of the spring morning around us.

Spring makes each morning with its own unique flavors. We taste each one, rolling it around in our mouths before we swallow it.

Finding Hope on a Spring Morning

Some of us believe hope is unrealistic, maybe even the opposite of realistic.

We may be convinced of our need to face the bleakness of our prospects in all their stark darkness. They focus their attention on the obstacles we must overcome, the challenges threatening to hold us back. Some of us are committed to do whatever it takes to completely understand the depth of how hard it will be.

Now, I appreciate a juicy worst case scenario. I have responded, after hearing someone else’s dire assessment, “But, it is even worse than that . . .” We think it motivates us when we take the measure of the most challenging possibilities.

Difficult situations do not inspire us. Hope inspires us. We remember we have dealt with issues like this before, or we know people who have, and we find hope. Hope pushes us forward, helping us find ways through or around what threatens to defeat us.

Our memories tend to shortchange hope. Hope is not easy to measure or quantify, so we often discount it. We like to think of ourselves as courageous or insightful. Seeing our actions as hopeful does not sound nearly as heroic or significant.

Hope can feel small. It is not the flame of persistence or brilliant analysis. Hope is the spark which lights the fire. With no hope our fire would never be ignited in us.

Our hope may feel small or weak because we do not practice exercising it. It may help us to step into situations that will stretch our hope. We may need to build more powerful hope in other people.

We need to give our hope the fuel and oxygen it needs to grow stronger and brighter.

Recognizing Hope on a Spring Morning

It is easy for us to assume our hope comes from things we can control. We like to think if we work hard enough or believe the right things we will earn hope.

Recognizing the gift of hope on a soft spring morning breeze can be more challenging for us.

Many of us want to believe we deserve to have hope, but that is not how hope works. We do not qualify for hope after we have made a sufficient contribution.

Hope does not depend on who we are or what we do or how much we want it.

Spiritual life gives us the gift of hope as we sit in stillness on a spring morning. We sit by ourselves, take a deep breath, and sit listening to sacred stillness. As we sit the stillness within us and all around us reminds us hope is a gift.

We sit sipping our tea and watching the dawn a little earlier each spring morning. Every morning is a new beginning demonstrating the hope we have.

No matter how hopeless or overwhelming our lives may seem, we sit and listen to hope in the stillness.

Breathing in the Hope of a Spring Morning

We breathe in hope on a spring morning the same ways we drink our morning cup of tea.

Some of us draw in hope one sip at a time, savoring its flavor on our tongues. Each bit is a delicious experience of flavor. Others of us gulp our hope, trying to fill ourselves with as much as quickly as we can.

Spiritual life assures us hope is not something we need to hoard or protect on a spring morning. We have an abundance of hope at our disposal waiting for us. There is no need to conserve hope, to save it for a more hopeless time. Each of us, all of us can revel in hope every morning. There is no deficit of hope, no matter how we might feel.

Our hope is renewed and replenished each day. We breathe in hope as we listen to sacred stillness.

Breathing in the hope of a spring morning is a contemplative practice. As we are open to spiritual life within us and around us we receive hope.

Hope sparks the fire of inspiration within us on a spring morning.

Where will we find hope on a spring morning today?

How will we experience hope on a spring morning this week?

[Image by LoopZilla]

Greg Richardson is a spiritual life mentor and coach in Southern California. He is a recovering attorney and a lay Oblate with New Camaldoli Hermitage near Big Sur, California. Greg’s website is StrategicMonk.com, and his email address is [email protected].

Blog

Spiritual Practices

Previous Post

April 25, 2019

Listening to Sacred Stillness: Listening to Stillness in the Hospital

Next Post

April 30, 2019 Listening to Sacred Stillness: We Hear Our Stories in the Stillness

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Blog Book Reviews Everything Else Guest Posts Leadership Monastic Strategies Neighborhood Pilgrimages Sacred Stillness Spiritual Direction Spiritual Practices Work

Select a Month May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

True or False: According to 2 Peter, one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

Select your answer to see how you score.

TRUE FALSE