Hope in the Future What is hope? Could it be trust in a new generation, the joy we feel when we watch young animals at play, babies being born? In our yard, a family of scrub jays has nested in the holly tree. As I write, the father submerges himself in the bird bath while the mother feeds their baby seeds and insects from the garden. Watching them, I smile, thinking of beauty and life that will continue after I am gone. Or could hope be the belief in an existence after death? At the hospital, I sit with a woman who is sick and weary from cancer. She begs…
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Birth, Death, and Rebirth
Birth and Reincarnation While looking through my books for a story about birth and rebirth, I came across one from Laos that I’ve used before to talk about love and justice. [1] This time, as I read the tale’s sequence of birth, death, and reincarnation, I was reminded of what it’s like to struggle with addictions, illness, and bad habits. Two spirits, Orphan Boy and Yer, are deeply in love. Before they are incarnated, they agree to spend their lives together. However, as they wait to jump into the pool that will take them from the spirit world to Earth, Orphan Boy becomes so eager and excited, he runs ahead and…
