There's Hope!

I had to take my van to get tires today,  and I found myself sitting in the service area waiting room with my newborn baby boy. One month post partum, I'm tired. Like mama with a toddler and a newborn tired. Like mama who didn't really take a maternity leave because I'm a Realtor tired. Anyway, I had managed to shower and actually wore my hair down and I was feeling good after riding to Lavonia listening to Sirius radio on some old school rap station that made me feel 21 again... if only for my 30 minute drive. As I sat in the waiting room, it was clear pretty quickly that I had company....company that likes to chat. She doted on Shep and asked me all about him and talked about how beautiful he was. I thought the experience would be pleasant, but then her attention turned to the news which was playing on the tv in the waiting room. It was full of bad news, particularly a recent rape that made the headlines. And that's when it began... she talked about how awful the world is and how she is so scared for all the children. She specifically said, I just don't know what I'd do if I had a little one like that bec the world is just so bad and I wonder how it will be for them. She meant well,  and a lot of what she said I agreed with. But I refuse to believe that we have to accept that our children will have it rough, and their world will be filled with hate and gloom. I won't just accept that. I won't accept that we have to live like that, full of worry and fear about what they will have to see and experience. Because as Easter approaches and with it comes the hope of Jesus and his resserection, I'm reminded of the hope we all have for ourselves and for our children and grandchildren. The same hope that existed when this stranger that I met in the service department was a child still exists for our children. It has existed for thousands of years and will continue to be available to my children and my grandchildren and great grandchildren... it will always be there. And the thing about it that is amazing is that it is the best kind of hope. Unwavering, gracious, eternal hope. What a joy to raise my boys with that hope! When the world around you seems full of despair, grab onto that hope and promise yourself that you will not instill fear and anger and hate into your children, because their future is in the hands of the very one who created them and he.doesnt.fail. Ever. Like the old saying goes, "if you want to change the world, go home and love your family." Turn off the news and pray with them, sit on the floor and do a puzzle with them, read the Bible to them, go outside and soak up the sunshine that he made for us to enjoy. Sure, there's plenty of nasty in the world, but dang, there is still so much beautiful...two of  whch are these amazing little creatures we were blessed with. And I absolutely refuse to focus on how horrible the world will be for them... because it won't be. I won't let it be. They have hope!