Wow! What a weekend! Here in Washington, DC, we received 6 to 8 inches of steady snow on Saturday but then by Sunday the temperatures rose up to the 40’s! As my neighbor and I were out shoveling the slushy mesh, we both remarked that it was warm enough to take off our coats.
Today the temperatures are dropping back down again to February coldness so it just goes to show that you never know what Mother Nature is going to bring to us in terms of weather! I also have that same kind of uncertain feeling about this upcoming week. I know it’s going to be particularly busy and I am unsure of how many problems may spontaneously come my way in the midst of trying to get a lot of my work done.
But while watching one of my favorite television shows last night, the magnificent PBS series, Downton Abbey, I heard an inspiring sentiment expressed by Mr. Carson, the steadfast butler, to Mrs. Hughes, Downton Abbey’s housekeeper and Mr. Carson’s close friend. Both are loyal and hardworking and constantly confide in each other.
The cast of Downton Abbey. Mr. Carson and Mrs. Hughes are the first two characters on the left.
The two of them, surrounded by the rest of the Downton Abbey household, are walking back home after attending an important memorial ceremony in town. Mr. Carson and Mrs. Hughes are discussing the latest crisis in the household and trying to make sense of where it all may lead.
“We must always travel in hope,” Mr. Carson wisely says to Mrs. Hughes, bringing a smile to her face.
Ahh yes we must Mr. Carson!! And thank you so much for kindly reminding us of this.
Making the best of a trying or stressful situation is definitely not an easy task. Life hands all of us, you and me, lots of challenges and traumas and most of them, I think I can safely say, we would rather not be bothered to handle. Life is so much easier when we are without pain and struggle.
Yet hope is soothing sentiment. And it is one that I sometimes forget too easily. Hoping for the best is not trivial and it can put me on the path of making the best of an awful situation and that is not a small thing.
Hope reminds me that all is not lost and it helps me rise above the problems and focus on a time when the problem is solved or has perhaps disappeared. Hope gives me a sense that something better, something healing, something comforting, may lay ahead for me.
May your day and your week be filled with hope!! We must never give up, for there is always hope and we must travel with it as we would a treasured friend!
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