Hope Blooms

By: Nick Carrington EPLA Editor

As a Midwesterner, spring has always had special significance because hope naturally permeates through spring. Warmer temperatures engender new life out of the ground and trees that lay so lifeless only a few weeks before. Grass grows, flowers bloom, and the earth is made anew.

We hear hope in the crack of the bat as baseball players and fans emerge from winter’s slumber to convene at perfectly manicured ballparks. Christians celebrate the most important holiday of their faith in spring: Easter, which offers hope for an extraordinary life beyond this one.
In spring, hope seems to naturally abound.

However, parents who have miscarried may feel a lack of hope as the weather turns. They had hopes for their child and his or her future, that their little one would give and receive love in a way that can only occur between parents and their child. The will is shaken during and after miscarriage. Death will do that.

But we know how important hope is for moving forward. People who cling to hope typically are healthier and achieve more than those who don’t. While it certainly relates to optimism, hope carries a sense of will that optimism doesn’t. Those who hope believe that things can  turn out okay, and thereby give themselves something precious: permission to move on from despair. The hopeless often remain in their grief because they can’t accept this gift.

Recently, I listened to an interview with Mary Katherine Ham, a CNN contributor. A few years ago, she lost her husband in a bicycle accident while she was seven months pregnant. Ham dealt with the pain in many ways, but one important strategy was forcing herself out of bed every day. She grieved heavily but refused to give up on life. She had hope through the grief; she maintained her will.

Part of what we do at the EPLA is offer hope. Through your stories and those of others, we want to show you that you are not alone, that there is life beyond your pain. In providing miscarriage kits, we aim to ease your burdens through a tumultuous time. Through selling tulips that come alive during spring, we emphasize that out of death can come renewal.

​So, don’t lose hope. Fight on, knowing that we grieve with you, that your loved ones are there for you, and that even if your darkest hour, hope blooms.

Part of what we do at the EPLA is offer hope. Through your stories and those of others, we want to show you that you are not alone, that there is life beyond your pain.

​Nick Carrington is an Editor for the EPLA and Assistant Professor of Professional Writing at Cedarville University​​.