Emily Dickinson (1830 – 1886) wrote, “Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul, and sings the tune without words, and never stops at all…”

Imagine being hungry and having no hope of eating. Can you imagine that from the point of view of a child or an elderly living alone in a ramshackle bin? Imagine the throbbing, aching painfulness a mother feels watching her child fighting hunger pains? And, she knows she could never find anything edible, in the immediate vicinity, for the child to eat… to quench that piercing hunger pangs, gnawing inside her child’s guts. You wonder whose pain is greater, the child or the mother watching with heavy eyes and a broken heart. Imagine if all of these were unfolding in the high pitch of a biting winter, and the child & mother were inside the very rigors of a full bore chill because they have no heat in the dilapidating shack.

Can you comprehend that?

Would you discard everything you know about self-preservation and comfort, to embark on a crazy idea that puts your life in danger? If you can’t, then imagine those of them that are unfortunate, and have somehow managed to pass through the severities of an unfortunate existence on a daily grind.

The most authentic thing about us is our capacity to create, to overcome, to endure, to transform, to love, and to be greater than our suffering. — Ben Okri

When you welcome hope in your heart, then, it allows you to count your blessings one-by-one. Be thankful for what you have, and not necessarily for what you hope to have. Be thankful for where you are, and not necessarily where you hope to be. Just be thankful.

EVERYDAY IS YOUR CHANCE TO BE GREATER THAN WHAT YOU WERE YESTERDAY. THEREFORE, WHAT YOU DO TODAY, MATTERS. NEVER WASTE YOUR MIND…THE POWER TO CHANGE YOUR FOOTSTEPS FOR A BETTER TOMORROW. — Nkem DenChukwu