As The World Groans

The world is in chaos as I write this. Earthquakes, fire, hurricanes and tornados are ravaging the earth like never before.

I have observed through my long life of living through times of major earthquakes, devastating floods, droughts, wars and air pollution that after all the devastation the one thing that remains is hope!  Even if it’s just a whisper, it never seems to leave us and as Emily Dickinson contemplated, hope never even asks for a crumb as payment in return.  I am drawn to her poem “Hope is the Thing With Feathers” today.

“Hope” is the Thing With Feathers

     By EMILY DICKINSON

“Hope” is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul,

And sings the tune without the words

And never stops at all.

And sweetest in the gale is heard;

And sore must be the storm

That could abash the little bird

That kept so many warm.

I’ve heard it in the chillest land

And on the strangest sea;

Yet, never, in extremity,

It asked a crumb of me.

It was M. Russell Ballard who said “Hope grows out of faith and gives meaning and purpose to all that we do. It can give us comfort in the face of adversity, strength in times of trial, and peace when there is every reason for doubt and anguish.”

Sometimes, our hope is like the engineer that keeps us on track!  Gordon B. Hinckley reminisced:

“Long ago I worked for one of our railroads whose tracks threaded the passes through these western mountains. I frequently rode the trains. It was in the days when there were steam locomotives. Those great monsters of the rails were huge and fast and dangerous. I often wondered how the engineer dared the long journey through the night. Then I came to realize that it was not one long journey, but rather a constant continuation of a short journey. The engine had a powerful headlight that made bright the way for a distance of 400 or 500 yards. The engineer saw only that distance, and that was enough, because it was constantly before him all through the night into the dawn of the new day.”

Hope is right there urging us through this if we allow it right?  Many years ago I came upon this thought by an unknown author; “Real hope keeps us “anxiously engaged” in good causes even when these appear to be losing causes on the mortal scoreboard.  Likewise, real hope is much more than wishful musing. It stiffens, not slackens, the spiritual spine."

So as I watch and listen to what is happening in the world right now ~ be it natural disasters or man- made disasters I am doing all that I can to keep hope alive…so as not to let the many storms “abash the little bird that has kept me warm” many times before, that little feather of hope that perches resolutely in my soul.

Thomas S. Monson coached us in how to nurture this hope when he said: 

“Gaze Upward, Look Inward, Reach Outward, and Press Forward”.