"When we hope, we live generously and gratefully in the present because deep down we know that all will be well--not perfect, but well."
Kevin O'Brien, SJ, Give Us This Day
One of the things I do in the winter to help me in my hope for spring is to watch the Ken Burns nine-part documentary "Baseball." It is so much more than just about baseball, it is about life. The colorful characters, from Ty Cobb to Babe Ruth to Buck O'Neil to Jackie Robinson teach us so much more than just how to play a game. Their lessons are on how to live and how not to live. One of the main lessons, threaded throughout the history of baseball is hope. Hope for "next year" if you're a Brooklyn Dodgers fan. Hope for one day playing in the major leagues if you're a black player, barred from the majors until Jackie Robinson broke that barrier. Hope each time you come up to bat or walk to the pitcher's mound. Hope is the fuel that pushes you to do what it is you do. I feel called, not so much hope for the farther-away future, but to help me live generously and gratefully today--this winter Tuesday. Whatever happens the rest of this week or month or year, somehow it will be OK. (For some of us, this is a harder week than for others!) So my hope for today is that I can do what God has asked me to do, in my circle of influence, to the best of my ability. That is to live generously and gratefully and lovingly. And if I strike out, there will be another turn at bat. There's hope in that, too! Love, heidi
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