“This world will break your heart. There’s enough sorrow to go around, and for everyone to have seconds. But this world has a thousand forms of medicine too.”
Nadia Bolz-Weber
Among us old time ranch folks there’s a saying we hang onto all winter. “If we can just make it to green grass…” We’re almost there, and the light is longer, even if the powers that hold fast to power have decreed that light gets re-named twice a year. Of course, what we are really talking about here is hope. That’s the signature of spring, and I think Ms. Bolz-Weber would include hope in one of those forms of medicine.
An old nursery rhyme says, “If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.” We all wish for a lot of things, but wishes aren’t the same as hope. Wishes are castles in the air—hope is a lot stronger; even more so, when reinforced with prayer.
Hope looks different for ranch people, and it can be seasonal. We hope for an open winter. That this is the last snowstorm. That spring will come early. We hope for timely rains, healthy calves, that the bulls test okay, that branding day weather will be warm and quiet, and nobody get injured. We hope for a good hay crop, that the machinery holds together and interest rates don’t go up. We hope for fat calves and a good market. We hope that some of the young ones will want to stay around and continue the legacy.
There are hopes that most humans hold in common. Hope for our loved ones’ safety and health. Hope for our children to make wise choices, Hope that our leaders will keep working for world peace, that compassion and understanding will spread faster than fear and divisiveness.
Here’s another difference between hope and wishes. Wishes often are based in self. We wish for a vacation in the tropics. For luck in the lottery, that it won’t rain on our wedding day, or that our spouse would be more considerate. Wishes come true just often enough to keep us wishing, but it’s not enough to count on.
Hope is connected to hard work and being ready to adjust when things don’t pan out. It means making a plan B, asking for help, and being willing to offer it. Hope generally involves mutual benefit.
I don’t know what your hopes are, or what you wish for. But I wish you a good day and hope that you look toward the light. That helps, when we are searching for the right path.
Meet me here next week and, meanwhile, do your best. Somebody might like it.