Hope is the only thing greater than fear

A cold and windy day in Sedona yesterday. Completely different from the day before when we were basking in the sun but that's desert life for you - unpredictable and no two days the same. Teaching those that live in the desert to always be prepared for the unexpected. To just go with the flow.
My son and husband went out first thing in the morning for a mountain bike ride through the vortex. Father and son out in the elements. Testing each other against the elements. Riding together amidst the energy. Bonding in a manly way as our son is beginning to test the waters of manhood. A great way to get our fourteen year old out in nature with his dad.
My daughter and I relaxing together. Her resting. Me doing all the stuff I needed to do. Each of us doing what we needed.
As time wore on, the weather deteriorated slowly but surely. Wind picking up quickly. Strong. Gales. Sun hidden behind heavy and dark clouds. Cold bitter winds. Temperatures plummeting to the 40s from the high 70s the day before. A day to stay indoors and relax.
By the time my husband and son returned flushed with the outdoors and a feeling of euphoria from making it through the challenge of the elements, we were all famished and ready to eat. So we decided to go into the town of Sedona to explore. Not realising just how much the drop in temperature would chill us to the bone.
The town very different from the one my husband and I remembered when we were here 15 years before. More built up. More sanitised. More trendy than we remembered it. But we both liked the feel. The energy different in the town than it was out on the vortex but inviting just the same despite the cold.
We found the Taos restaurant. A Mexican restaurant our son had read about and wanted to try so we did. Great food. Great service. Great family conversation. After eating, we dared to brave the cold and rain to explore some of the town. The rocks providing a dramatic backdrop to the town. The light somehow still finding its way to the tops of the rocks.Lighting them that little bit to add a glow.
When the rain came down harder and the wind howled that much more, we took shelter in a little museum that told us about how the town Sedona got its name. Confirming the story the school teachers told us nights before. We then decided the weather was telling us it was a good day to vegetate. To do nothing but snuggle indoors and watch movies we had rented.
When we drove back to our complex, we were staggered to realise we are actually staying in the condo directly across the street from the original stone hotel where the original Sedona and her husband lived many years before. As if beckoning our Sedona to take up where the original Sedona left off. Our daughter proud but somewhat unnerved by it all.
We came into the condo digesting all the signs of the Universe. All the evidence that our lives are in major transition. Each of us being touched in different ways by this special trip. We came in to relax. To just be. Our son choosing The Hunger Games for us to watch. A book series I had resisted getting for him years before because I thought it sounded too violent. Too exploitive of children. But he eventually asked us for it. After having read just about every age appropriate books. And not wanting to discourage him from reading, I relented and got the series for him. So when he chose the movie I was less than enthusiastic about watching it because I did not like the premise. But decided to watch it as our family was looking to do something together.
Cynically I sat down to watch the movie, not expecting to like it at all. But was enraptured from almost the beginning when President Snow said, "The only thing greater than fear is hope." And then I knew why I was compelled to watch this movie. A direct message from the Universe.
Taking me back to the words famously spoken by Churchill, "the only thing to fear is fear itself." When we have hope, fear becomes secondary. Fear takes a back seat to hope because hope allows us to see beyond our fears. It gives us that glimmer of what lies ahead for us. It takes us out of our present circumstances for that split second and allows us to understand whatever we are facing, it too shall pass.
When we have something worth living for, fighting for, believing in, and worth reaching for, we allow hope in. Making way for us to move beyond our fears and on to what we must do to get to the next stage of our lives. The Hunger Games may have been about the exploitation of children but it is more about hope. The main character in the film had made a promise to her little sister that she would come back to her and that was what kept her going. What allowed her to rise above her fears and limitations, what gave her the strength to beat the odds.
A lesson for us all, in order to move beyond our fears, we must hold on to hope because it is the bridge to faith allowing us to know all will be well. Remembering always the only thing greater than fear is hope. One of the most powerful tools we can ever have in this world built upon fear which ultimately is designed to keep us away from our dreams.
In gratitude to a rainy cold day in Sedona for allowing me to hear the message, never to give up hope.