Hope

I was given a book, "Changed by a Child" by Barbara Gill, from one of Clara's support groups. It is a compilation of excerpts on various topics related to having a child with a disability. I read this entry on Hope not too long ago, and since I'd already had hope on my mind from the talk given in October's General Conference by President Uchtdorf entitled The Infinate Power of Hope, this kind of hit me. President Uchdorf was talking about how you can't entertain both hope and fear. So while this isn't exactly the same type of hope, it struck me because I was already focused on hope before I read it, so I thought I'd share:

HOPE

If a patient stops expressing hope, iti s usually a sign of imminent death.

- Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

Often others seem to feel a special responsibility to puncture our hopes. They say things like "You know she will never learn to read," or "You need to accept that he doesn't know what is going on around him," or "He's doing well now, but he will reach a plateau."

They would say we are in denial, that our dreams are "false hopes," from which we must be protected. God forbid anyone should go around entertaining false hopes! But, in certain sense, what other kind of hope is there?

Hope is the thing that is willing to take a chance on the future.And who is audacious enough to say what the future will bring! Hope is the capapcity to see something on the horizon that we are willing to move toward. If our hope gets us from today to tomorrow, and in taht new day we are ready to able to deal with something we thought we couldn't face, then hope has done its job.

There is a worse thing than false hope. It is no hope.

I have hope that my children will continue to progress in their abilities. I have hope that they will also continue to progress spiritually. I hope I will be there to lead and guide them every step of the way. I don't know how far any of my children will progress, but I have all the hope that however far they will get is going to be far enough!