Alexander Pope once wrote  that “Hope Springs Eternal.”  However, this is the time of year when I seriously challenge what he was referencing to in his writing.

This is the time of year when people seem to get the “blahs.”  Cold, short winter days and long black nights can attack even the hardiest souls.  The holidays are over – either one feels “let down” after the warm fuzzy feeling of family and friends or just relieved to “get through” yet another less than happy holiday season.

Recently, Lisa (who writes a Manic Monday meme) wrote a though provoking question – “Do you believe everything happens for a reason?”  My response was that some things happen for a “good” reason and some for a “bad” reason.  As much as I would love to retreat into a Pollyanna mentality, the “sun shines” on both good and bad people.  Additionally, evil is alive and well in the world today.

So, what is one to do?

You have hope.  You have hope that God, the universe, or a power greater than you predestines your life – that you are on a journey to contribute and learn to the greatest extent possible.  You realize that obstacles to your path are just “stones in the road,” and that no one can take away your spirit and the sense of who you really are.  That doesn’t mean that you sit helpless and allow evil to consume you.  You “do what you have to do” and rest in the fact that there is a karmic nature to the world and we truly “sow what we reap.”

Most importantly you realize that Dame Julian of Norwich (an English mystic)  was light years beyond her time when she said, “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.”

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