You Breathe, There’s Hope

A GOOD friend and I went to see The Revenant (2015), and we always go to see such movies to be inspired.  We were not disappointed.  But this article is not about The Revenant, nor is it about anything other than the hope that remains in us, even as we live and breathe, so we don’t give up.  Yet we may need more than that idea to know how to keep going when we feel everything in our lives should be torched.

Storms blow into our lives and they can render us obliterated, yet that will only be the case when we look at all the evidence of foliage strewn everywhere.  If we’re able to keep our focus on the trunk of a tree that stays founded in the ground, we have the best chance of survival.

These are truths we know to be true, though they’re every bit as vibrant in fantasy land as anywhere.  Litanies of comeback stories fill our newsfeeds every day.

But many hope for a personal manifestation of a comeback story that proves real and remarkable.

Here is what I hope to leave you with: the drive to keep going.

I have a personal struggle.  And although many of you would think it’s not much of a struggle on the scale of things, it’s something that’s continued to hound me.  It doesn’t matter what it is, but those close to me know.  It seems like a last frontier thing, but it’s also pivotal for my ongoing health and wellbeing, particularly as I have goals to live deep into my 90s.  But, despite the fact that I’ve still not overcome this thing, like I’ve overcome so many things, I’m still breathing; my death hasn’t taken me yet.

Here is a word for me that might also be a word for you.

Don’t give up on that beautiful and bold dream.  And don’t focus on the negative thing when a positive focus will get you through.  Live bold in the belief you can do the thing that seems impossible to you right now.

God is a Lord of restoration, and while there is breath in you, there’s hope.

Hope forward of the impossibility, and move forward into hope that speaks of possibility.

If you’re willing to press in and grow, God will be willing to augment growth.

Whatever he has spoken to you is a fait accompli with his help; but you must obey him, one day at a time.

And still, at the end of the day, when you’ve stopped breathing, you’ll truly know the abundance of goodness in God.

If you’re in a storm, focus steadily on a fixed point to get through, and while you’re breathing, don’t surrender your breath unless God wants it back.

© 2016 Steve Wickham.