Day 11: Imperfect Hope
When we expect everything to be perfect, it's easy to lose hope.
Today’s post will be a brief(er) one. On Wednesdays and Thursdays, I work full days (half days on Mondays and Tuesdays and off on Fridays) and this is an especially hectic time for us: end of the fiscal year, annual report, budget, leadership change, annual appeal, a fundraising concert, a pilgrimage coming up in early January, plus planning for 2025 (for those who don’t know, I work for the Living Legacy Project, a nonprofit focused on inspiring people to work for justice by learning about the incredible people who fought for freedom during the American Civil Rights Movement). And as a result, I’ve run out of juice, which seems fitting on this day when I decided to write about imperfection.
My original plan for this “Thirty Days of Hope” series was only to post a graphic each day with an image and quote, like the one above. Then, I realized I had a lot to say, so I started writing every day. That set an expectation, primary on myself. Not surprising to those of you who know me and wondered what the heck I was committing to, I’m finding that I can’t keep that up and still do my day job, promote my new memoir (Living Into the Truth), visit with my wife, and sleep!
Although I’d like to write a life-changing letter for each of these thirty days, I am allowing myself to be imperfect. I don’t know about you but that’s not an easy thing for me—to admit I’m not perfect and to do things imperfectly. But there you go. I know that striving to do everything perfectly is a recipe for feeling hopeless. So, I’m listening to my own wisdom (yeah, I know it takes while!) and I’m already feeling more hopeful.
I still have a lot I want to write about hope, and I will still be sharing something each day, but sometimes it’ll just be a quote or a photo, or a link to video or article that inspired me. I know some of you are saying, “Phew,” because you’ve read enough. At the same time, I hope that this causes some of you to think about what you could share about how hope works in your life. I’d love to have your words, photos, favorite inspirational quotes, or other things that give you hope. Email them to me at annette@annettemarquis.com.
Today, I’ll leave you with this tree: a tree described perfectly by Alice Walker.
In nature, nothing is perfect and everything is perfect. Trees can be contorted, bent in weird ways, and they’re still beautiful.
—Alice Walker
This imperfect perfect tree is called Emancipation Oak because it was under its branches in 1863 in Hampton, Virginia, that the Emancipation Proclamation was read for the first time on Southern soil. Can you even imagine the hope it engendered in the people who heard those words?
I visit this tree whenever I pass through Hampton, and it gives me hope. It gives me hope for its longevity. It gives me hope for the coming of freedom it witnessed so many years ago. And it gives me hope that such a contorted and weird tree can inspire so many people who visit it.
According to visithampton.com,
With limbs sprawling over a hundred feet in diameter, the Emancipation oak is designated as one of the 10 Great Trees of the World by the National Geographic Society.
Read more about this incredible live oak tree here: Two Hampton trees witnessed start of Virginia slavery, beginnings of freedom • Virginia Mercury
Today’s Reflection
Spend a few minutes in nature in the next few days and look for signs of perfect imperfection. How does its imperfection add to its function, to its beauty. Take a photo or sketch it if you’re so inclined. Write a poem about it or just admire it. Let the beauty remind you that it’s OK to be imperfect, too.
Thank you, Dear Readers, for being imperfect with me.
With hope in my heart,
Annette
