Scraps of Hope

Two Cups of Tea at Hope’s Café

Lately I feel like I am “dumpster diving” for scraps of hope in the trash bin full of the shreds of our democracy.  Or perhaps I am more like a beggar by the side of the road with my crudely written cardboard sign: “A kind word. A kind gesture.  Anything to keep me going…..God bless.”

And yet, even just today, a friend relayed an exchange she had heard on tv where the interviewee was asked how she was coping.  She said she spent 85% of her time doing normal things, taking care of daily responsibilities, spending time with friends; the other 15% she took actions to address the problems confronting us at this time.  This effort towards balance resonated with me.  Then today on Facebook I saw where another friend is spearheading an effort to gather food for the Crow tribe’s food bank which lost its federal funding due to Doge cuts.  To know of these endeavors is balm to my weary spirit.

The writings of those who seek to uplift, to challenge us to continue to work for the common good, to remind us of all the good of which we are capable also bolster me.    Last June I listened to an On Being  podcast by Krista Tippett in conversation with Ocean Vuong.  Some of the thoughts that especially caught my attention:  “We have to create conditions for hope….bring more vivid, intentional language into our atmosphere…pay attention to the words you use to engage…building a vocabulary that makes it more likely for what is more life-giving and redemptive.”

A master of that type of vocabulary was John O’Donohue, about whom I have written before.  In another On Being podcast in which Tippett interviewed O’Donohue, he referred to Pascal’s phrase that one “should always keep something beautiful in your mind,” adding that he had often “like in times when it’s been really difficult for me, if you can keep some kind of little contour that you can glimpse sideways at, now and then, you can endure great bleakness.”  (from a podcast February 28,2008)

In this time of ‘great bleakness,’ may we also experience hope for and vision beyond the present circumstances. I have only just now come across the book “Hope In the Dark. ” I have not read it but am intrigued by the description: “This book encourages us to look away from the brightly lit stage and the tragedy being acted on it, and to see into the shadows, to an alternate understanding of how power plays out.  It is an incitement to activism, a manifesto for realizing how we can achieve change—it is filled with hope.”

The invitation is open to share two cups of tea anytime at Hope’s Café or anywhere you share companionship and conversation.

May we bearers of hope, the “wait staff” at Hope’s Café, for each other and all those we encounter.  Shalom, Kate