AS A LITTLE GIRL, I loved lying on the dock at our summer cabin and looking up at the stars in the dark night sky. I felt very small, but not insignificant. Although I seemed only a speck in a vast universe, I was important enough to be there—and that gave me hope.
As an adult, though, finding reason for hope hasn't always been so simple. This world can seem pretty daunting with all of its ups and downs, and sometimes it's easy to feel insignificant and discouraged. When things do seem difficult and hope dim, I often remember a song called "High Hopes" Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen, "High Hopes," 1959 . that I learned from my mother. "Just what makes that little old ant/Think he'll move that rubber tree plant?" the song asks. "Anyone knows an ant can't move a rubber tree plant,/But he's got high hopes ...." And what do you know? Against all odds, that little creature does move a rubber tree plant—and apparently more than one!
Even though this song might seem frivolous, it points to a higher hope—a hope in something beyond our own abilities, a "high" hope that is anchored in our relationship to God. Hope based merely on a material sense of things can turn to disappointment quickly, because it isn't rooted in anything solid or lasting. But spiritual hope is grounded in the unseen connection we each have to our Father-Mother God. And, like this connection to God, it is unchanging.
