However one views them, these days are special times of sharing, healing and hope in the holidays.

They are promises, even pledges.

Yes.

They are.

Through six decades of life, I have learned that hope helps people carry on amid tragedy, heartache and more.

When the waitress at Big Boy's earlier today told me that her husband broke his back when he fell of a ladder trimming a tree, I knew she carries hope in her heart.

She does.


Hope.


It's that evergreen virtue, or strength these days.

It is.

It sees people through storms in their daily living.

And, amid darkness needed even for a little bit of light to see through, this hope shines in the season, these holidays.

It does.