As I sit at my kitchen window, watching the rain pour down yet again, I am reminded of hope.  How in the midst of grey, dark, even thunderous conditions in our country and world, I find day after day, how love shows up.  A man at a coffee shop buys coffee for the next customer in line and her friends, surprising them.  Another gives a stranger a dollar’s worth of change he needs. People hold open doors at the post office, grocery store.  Someone dries off a shopping cart for another.  An eleven-year old pushes her Grandpa’s wheelchair through a museum without being asked.  Prayers lift suffering, lessen the worrying.  Neighbors surprise each other with cookies and peanut brittle and songs and soup.  Is this only a burst of Christmas adrenaline?  Or, is there something else happening?  Perhaps there are a lot of people out there being strong, generous, patient, attentive, forgiving—even in the face of well-publicized random acts of unkindness.  There is no lack of evidence of hate, the worst in us.  But there is plenty of evidence that this is not all we are.  That’s where I find hope.  Real, honest to goodness goodness, finding chances to be expressed.  Yes, use your umbrella, but let some of that hope drench your clothes, your soul.  Keep your eyes open to find our best happening.  What hope can you make happen every day of this coming New Year?