Loose Threads are an opportunity for us to talk as a community. This week we are discussing hope.

Where do you find hope in times of strife?

Autumn: In times of difficulty and struggle I often turn to prayer, both offering it and asking for it. Prayer is where I feel most connected to the network of love that we create with the Divine. When people tell me they are praying for me, I can almost physically feel the love they are sending. When I am faced with a tragedy about which I feel I can do nothing, like the bombings at the Boston Marathon, or the plight of the Rohingya people, I choose to pray as a way of connecting myself to those in need. Receiving and sending love through prayer gives me hope.

Jenni: Finding hope can be hard, especially when it feels like the world is falling apart. I lived with a family of three kids while in Peru, and I remember more than once walking through the door at night completely spent and upset about whatever had happened that day. Three pairs of loving chubby little arms would run up to me and tackle me to the ground with love, and hope would suddenly be easy to believe in again. That’s only one way of course, but kids with their unconditional love are a good way to remind yourself that there is still good in the world.