HOPE IS A SUPERPOWER

At the conclusion of each month I aim to spend time reflecting on what I learned, how I was kind to myself, what I am looking forward to in the coming month and how I plan to celebrate it. This is my March 2023 reflection, a month in which I participated in a pilgrimage to Montgomery AL with mid council leaders from across the US, burned midnight oil wrapping up my DMin project, led the first stated meeting of 2023 for Olympia Presbytery, and said goodbye to a key staff member who accepted to pastoral call to a neighboring presbytery. Each a hope-filled step. I am learning that hope is a superpower.

Something I learned recently

It was an ‘aha’ moment for me when I realized that my favorite word can be thought of as a superpower. As pictured here, Bryan Stevenson, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) and author of Just Mercy, says this about hope: Injustice prevails where hopelessness persists. Hope is a superpower.

If you were to visit my home office, you’d see the word ‘hope’ occupying a central place in my space. My faith is grounded in hope. It is the animating force of my life. It gets me up on mornings I’d rather sleep in, and reminds me in the silences that this present reality is not all that ‘is’.  

A time I was kind to myself this month

I stayed another day at the end of the pilgrimage. When I made these plans I did not have a particular plan for that stretch of time. I simply knew that to be kind to my soul it would be wise to have time on the tail end of this trek to sit with what I had experienced. 

Something I am looking forward to next month and how I plan to celebrate it…..

Turning in my Doctorate of Ministry project to the editor! Specifically, by the end of April I must turn in a final draft to the chair of committee if I am to have the committee’s feedback in time to defend my project and graduate in June. To celebrate? I will enjoy the festivities of graduation with my family. Perhaps later in the summer I will celebrate with friends and colleagues in ministry. We shall see….

PS Thank you Emily P Freeman for these writing prompts.