Have the blahs? How 'bout some Hope?

"Just what makes that little old ant

Think he'll move that rubber tree plant...

He's got high hopes! High apple pie in the sky hopes!"

Sammy Cahn from the song "High Hopes" sung by Frank Sinatra

Yesterday, my morning started like molasses dripping down the side of a jar. Slow. Sticky. Messy.

I woke up with that feeling many of us have from time to time. The blahs. One step away from slipping off the cliff into depression. Once my toe goes over that ledge, phrases like "Who cares? and Nothing matters anyway" slip out easily.

I recognized what was happening, but once in that particular state it's difficult to climb out of it. So I did what many of us would do. I went back to bed.

But then...

I prayed for God's strength to make my day count. Nothing wrong with naps. But I was more emotionally tired than physically drained. As I lay cocooned in a blankie, Scooby in a ball to my side, I heard a still, small voice: "Get up and go."

I chose to do it. I'm sure God's strength infused me. A Tai Chi class was starting and I'd told myself to try it. So off I went.

And you know what happened? Hope. Hope filled me up, followed closely by joy. When we choose to pray for His strength and then listen to His voice, wonderful things, supernatural things, happen.

My Tai Chi class was a blast. Energized by a bit of exercise and purpose, I made my day count as a day not wasted but one in which I lived and loved and laughed. And not lay in bed.

That little ant who tries to move the rubber tree plant? I betcha he asks God for strength before he starts moving ten times his weight. He prays. He listens. High hopes happen.

May you have a day of high hopes born of His strength! :0)

Some Random Simple Hopes

I hope.

I hope in God.

I hope in God's love and mercy and guidance.

I hope.

I hope that my son grows up to be a man who loves Jesus and loves his family.

I hope that he finds his dream job and has a reason to laugh every day.

I hope.

I hope that my husband will be fully healed, fully recover from his brain injury.

I hope that he will walk out the door to work one day with a "I can't wait to go back smile."

I hope.

I hope that someday I will have a book published.

I hope that book does somebody, somewhere, some good.

I hope.

I hope that people who haven't tried living for, around and in Jesus' love will give Him a whirl...and have a ball spinning.

I hope.

I hope that Scooby lives to be old. And I hope he learns to poop outside every time he feels sick.

I hope that this season of "Lost" gives me more than one "AHA" moment and less than twenty "WHAT?" moments.

I hope that I can conquer my selfishness before it conquers me.

I hope that Ted Haggard goes slowly. Time is the best test of any change.

I hope that I get to New York City someday and I hope that I learn to ballroom dance and I hope that I helped someone this past week besides my family.

I hope that my blog points people to Jesus and His joy and not just my rambling.

I hope that the Dallas Cowboys make it all the way next year.

I hope.