Day 5: Hope Illustrated

To find hope, all we have to do is look at nature

Today in Richmond the wind is blowing hard, the high today is going to be 45 degrees Fahrenheit, and for the seventh straight night, it’s going to drop into the 20s tonight. I know that for some of you that might be warm. You have a ton of snow on the ground and more on the way. It might only be warming to 10 or 20 degrees where you are, so what do I have to complain about? But after spending a lot of my life in Michigan, a few years in Massachusetts, and a couple in Colorado, I’m done with the cold.

Since moving back to the South in 2006, I’ve become a cold weather wimp. I admit it. I don’t like to be cold and as soon as the thermometer drops below 60, I have a hard time getting warm. My friends say they prefer the cold because you can always put on another layer. I can be wearing five or six layers, including a fleece undershirt, and do not get warm. I guess I’m just a chilly person.

All this is to say, I’m hoping for the temperatures to rise, and, in my commitment to maintain the connection between hope and action, I’m planning a January trip deeper south so I can have a short reprieve from what promises to be a cold winter. Yeah, I know, my trip probably won’t change the world, but it will change my attitude toward it!

So instead of spending time in nature today, I’ve pulled together a few of my favorite nature photos that I’ve taken over the years. In each one I find hope. I hope you do too.

Bluebirds on my front porch

Possibly a great spangled fritillary butterfly on Frostweed (Verbesina Virginica) in Shenandoah National Park

Two of five baby foxes that came to live with us (well, under our neighbor’s shed) during the pandemic - May 2020

Mom and one of the five baby foxes growing up

A great blue heron at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Florida

A barn swallow feeding its young - Point Pelee National Park, Ontario, Canada

A red-wing black bird on cattails - Point Pelee National Park, Ontario, Canada

Possibly a yellow garden spider weaving its web

A tiny waterfall in Smoky Mountains National Park

A joy-filled bunny - Spring is here!

The sunset from the Edmund Pettus Bridge over the Alabama River a week after a violent tornado destroyed a large swatch of Selma in 2023

Today’s Reflection

As you look at each of these photos, which one calls to you, which one gives you hope? Write something that reflects the inspiration that photo offers.

Do you have a special nature photo that helps ground you during tough times? Pull it out today and remember the feeling you had when you took it. Let it remind you that when you need hope look to nature first because you’ll be sure to find it there.

With hope in my heart,

Annette

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