In my last post, “Our Stories, Our Connections,” I described my recent airport encounter with a woman named AnnaGrace. A nurse by profession, AnnaGrace is a gatherer of people’s stories—stories she and others share on her blog, The Ordinary Human (commonbeings). I met AnnaGrace purely by chance, but our brief encounter made an impression.

We talked a bit about hope, and my belief that hope is what sustains human beings through challenge and adversity. Desmond Tutu once said that, “Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.”

When we hold hope for…

• a new relationship, we think of possibilities

• a loved one’s health, we can better support them

• a new job, we open ourselves up to opportunity

• the birth of a newborn, we embrace life

• achieving a goal, we set our sights on success

• a sunrise, we experience the anticipation of pure beauty

• a better tomorrow, we invite optimism

Hope is how we remind ourselves that things can get better. It is how we are able to endure those things we might otherwise find unendurable. Hope leads us through the present to the promise of the future.

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