Glimmer #11: A Small Glimmer of Hope

These are such difficult times. So many people in my life feel overwhelmed, discouraged, fearful of the future and nearly hopeless. There is so much that we can’t control. We find ourselves reeling from one disaster to another, some natural, others manmade.

We struggle to find ways to keep our serenity intact and to mitigate the effects of all that is swirling around us.

One of the small things I’ve done for myself in the past few years is to create a collection of special, comforting items. Little treasures from my life that give me a sense of empowerment. Things that remind me of just how small and insignificant one life really is, and how little one year or one decade means in the history of the universe.

Little things that give me hope for a better, calmer future.

The funny mementos on that shelf range from a tiny sculpted figure of a “grumpy” man, to the feather of a red tailed hawk that I found in my yard. There are bits of coral, a small painted madonna, and a wooden khamsa.

I was sitting here just now, with the news on in front of me. More horror and death unfolding. More rage, more sorrow, more storms and shootings and melting glaciers.

My eyes lifted to my little shelf.