Hope

I love this word. It's probably one of the most powerful words in the English language. Why? Because you can take almost anything away from someone, their job, their home, their sense of security, even their family, and if somehow they are able to hold on to 'hope' they will survive. Witness the amazing people of Haiti in the past two weeks.

While the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti on January 12th has taken nearly everything from that country's people, they still seem to be remaining hopeful. Amid the chaos, destruction and death of that area, the people who have survived go on. They are certainly not unaffected by what's happened and hope is by no means a cure for all that has gone on, but still they are able to put one foot in front of the other, get up each morning, and keep living. The Haitian people are giving us all a great lesson in the power of hope.

Of course the opposite is also true. Without hope, you can't do much. In fact you can have everything that we in North America consider critical to happiness like a house, a job, a family and money, but if you don't have hope, you'll feel empty.

So it is my hope (pun intended) that we learn something from the people of Haiti. That we learn to be hopeful always, in all circumstances. Because as long as we have hope, everything is possible!