The packing around my hopes

I found this poem several years ago and have included it often on our Christmas eve bulletin. This year I am going to post it here instead. Enjoy.

Cal

The Packing Around My Hopes
by Dorisanne Cooper

It's hard to hope. I mean to really hope for something-
Whether it be the answer to a problem,
or the solution to a difficult situation.
I use the word often and rather casually, too;
but even so,
I still feel I must pad my hopes
With all kinds of alternative outcomes:
"I hope this will work out... but something might interfere."
"I hope this is right... but I'm not really sure."

I pack in all the possibilities so airtight
That I don't leave room for surprise.
I think I do this partly for protection,
Protection from being disappointed or embarrassed or wrong.
I say I'm just being realistic.

But realism can only take me so far.
Surely mysticism can play a part as well.
But it's harder to plan for that.
Thinking realistically... how believable is it
that the birth of a child in a stable
could change the world?
Well, I believe it now: but
I can't help wondering, if I had lived then,
whether that would have been on my list of possibilities.
Somehow I doubt it.

This season reminds me...
It reminds me that if i hold too tightly to my list of possibilities,
I may overlook an answer that's staring me in the face.
It reminds me of the many ways
In which hope is fulfilled.

It reminds me to relax...
Not relax my hopes,
But the packing around them.
I need to leave room for God in my hopes.
Not just now, but all through the year.

Who knows?
I might even witness a miracle.