Don’t Put All Your Hopes in One Basket…

Dear Reader:

A couple of weeks ago… I came across an article that I found, initially, rather unsettling. The article was on how hope, can not only stagnate our life journey … but prevent us from taking the necessary detours to our personal fulfillment. It happens when we stubbornly refuse to give up hope towards one goal and one goal only.

I had decided to drop this idea for a post when a God Wink, in the form of an article, Anne emailed me yesterday… made me pause and re-consider an important lesson hidden within the narrow perspectives of most of us .. .confining hope for personal gain instead of ” feathers.” ( Emily Dickinson wrote ” Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in my soul.”)

In the title picture …the eggs in a basket… think of all the ” tools” God gave us to use along our individual paths… no two eggs are the same. Labeled on each egg would be His gifts to us to use as needed along our sojourn- in fact twelve fruits and gifts… one dozen …like eggs. Love, Grace, Faith, Wisdom, Understanding, Knowledge, Counsel, Piety, Charity, Joy, Kindness, and Goodness.

In other words… we all know good from evil and the tools given us to be successful… and hope… is the 13th egg. Our problem with it… we try to manually plan” it!

In Daily Devotion … Rachel Hackenberg ( ” Called to Hope”) quotes this scripture passage. ” I pray that the God of glory may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which GOD has called you.” ( Ephesians 1: 17-18.)

Similar to Emily Dickinson’s mental image of Hope… Hackenberg writes: ” HOPE is a wild creature… untamable. Wholly within the mysteries of God! “

So until tomorrow…“Hope, with a plan, isn’t Hope. A plan is self-made… the hope to which God calls us comes from an alien space, a wild place, a holy place. And from that space, hope offers possibilities we can not devise ourselves. Only God can.

Today is my favorite day. Winnie the Pooh

**The season of morning glories and camellias!**

**Jake and Lachlan’s maples blend beautifully together!**

**What a beautiful backdrop-orange, purple and’ or white…. hummm-Clemson Colors!** 😉

Everyone enjoy the weekend! ” Hoping” it brings you joy and beauty! 💗

About Becky Dingle

I was born a Tarheel but ended up a Sandlapper. My grandparents were cotton farmers in Laurens, South Carolina and it was in my grandmother’s house that my love of storytelling began beside an old Franklin stove. When I graduated from Laurens High School, I attended Erskine College (Due West of what?) and would later get my Masters Degree in Education/Social Studies from Charleston Southern. I am presently an adjunct professor/clinical supervisor at CSU and have also taught at the College of Charleston. For 28 years I taught Social Studies through storytelling. My philosophy matched Rudyard Kipling’s quote: “If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.” Today I still spread this message through workshops and presentations throughout the state. The secret of success in teaching social studies is always in the story. I want to keep learning and being surprised by life…it is the greatest teacher. Like Kermit said, “When you’re green you grow, when you’re ripe you rot.”

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