And now for some hope...

Years ago, my stepmom Judy (whom I call “Mamma Jude”) gave me a framed print of a car climbing a winding road through a beautiful Southwest canyon with blood orange rock walls made more luminous by the graphic’s black background. The text underneath reads, “Change - a bend in the road is not the end of the road. . .unless you fail to make the turn.” It sits within eye-shot of my desk, and I often find myself drawn to it, in good as well as bad times. Change is, after all, one of the only constants. The other day I decided to explore the saying. What I found, of course, is that it was penned by one of my favorites, “Anon” (otherwise the author would have been listed), and that it appears on many quotation boards. I clicked on one, the Quote Garden – appropriate for one who loves getting her hands deep into the fragrant earth – and discovered many more seeds of hope. What better time to share some of those seeds. I, for one, think of them as little prayers. Like the "bend in the road" quote and graphic, they show me a way out of the valley – or into my soul. And here’s a strange coincidence – or not… In reading the quotes, I came across some wisdom I shared in my March 10 post, “Does suffering build character?” It was spoken of 50 years ago in a speech by one of the most beloved statesman of the past century. See if you can spot it below. Oh, and I especially love this quotation, which relates to one of the statements in Help Me Live: 20 things people with cancer want you to know: That some good can be derived from every event is a better proposition than that everything happens for the best, which it assuredly does not. ~James K. Feibleman Always hope,rnLori The world is round and the place which may seem like the end may also be only the beginning. ~Ivy Baker Priest I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't trust me so much. ~Mother Teresa I ask not for a lighter burden, but for broader shoulders. ~Jewish Proverb What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson The robbed that smiles, steals something from the thief. ~William Shakespeare, Othello We must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for our journey. ~Kenji Miyazawa I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing. ~Agatha Christie When written in Chinese the word "crisis" is composed of two characters - one represents danger and the other represents opportunity. ~John F. Kennedy, address, 12 April 1959 That some good can be derived from every event is a better proposition than that everything happens for the best, which it assuredly does not. ~James K. Feibleman Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which, in prosperous circumstances, would have lain dormant. ~Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus), Satires There is in every true woman's heart a spark of heavenly fire, which lies dormant in the broad daylight of prosperity; but which kindles up, and beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity. ~Washington Irving, The Sketch Book, 1820 Perhaps everything terrible is in its deepest being something helpless that wants help from us. ~Rainer Maria Rilke It is foolish to tear one's hair in grief, as though sorrow would be made less by baldness. ~Cicero You must be at the end of your rope. I felt a tug. ~Author Unknown For more great quotations, see The Quote Garden. --rnThis post first appeared in Lori's CarePages blog, "what helps. what hurts. what heals"rnFor more information, see LoriHope.com