Hope

Sometimes it’s very small. At other times it’s so big it seems to fill your world. But no matter the size, it’s always there. What is it?

Hope.

Hope can start out like a fully-grown plant. But it can also be like a tiny seed put into the ground, just waiting for the right time to germinate. It can lay there for a long time and then suddenly there is a need for it.

So, like the seed that’s been planted, fertilized, and watered, it slowly begins to open. It seeks an opening in the ground surrounding it, searching for a place it can use to escape.

And then an opening is spotted and the seed begins to send up a tiny shoot. It isn’t very big, but soon it will be the size it is needed to be.

Little by little, the seedling called Hope begins to grow, to push its way to the surface. Sometimes it has to stop and rest. It knows that although it’s needed, it isn’t quite time to fully show itself.

Time moves on and soon the fragile plant becomes a little stronger, responding to its name being called. Responding to the deep need for it to become larger.

It hears its name being called over and over and it struggles to grow some more. To be able to help the one who is calling it to rise bit by bit. It cannot ignore that voice. That voice that begs it to show itself.

The urge to get bigger becomes stronger and Hope looks for a path to follow that will make it easier for it to reach the surface where the sunlight will give it strength to stretch and grow.

Soon -- soon -- it thinks. Soon I will be there for you. Soon I will bring you comfort and peace.

And so it continues to grow. To become as large as it has to be. It knows that its size depends on need. Hope realizes it may not have to be larger than a glimmer. But whatever size it has to be, it will grow to as large as necessary.

Today it understands the need for it to appear is getting more urgent. It must get bigger.

With the passing of time, Hope begins to be visible to the one who needs it so desperately. Then, suddenly, it explodes in all its beauty. It has made it to that one person, that one person who has been calling and calling its name.

A warmth, a feeling of peace, a quietness fills the one who has summoned it. And Hope knows right then it has accomplished its mission. Slowly, it recedes to wait in the shadows until it is once again needed.