O Beloved,
your way of knowing is amazing!
The way you recognize every creature
even before it appears.
The way you gaze into the face
of every human being
and see all your works gazing back at you.
O what a miracle
to be awake inside your breathing.
I need a hope . . . a new hope.
A hope that reaches for the stars, and
That does not end in violence or war.
A hope that makes peace on our earth,
That does not create evil in the world.
A hope that finds cures for diseases, and
That does not make people hurt,
In their bodies, in their hearts,
Or most of all, in their spirits.
I need a hope . . . a new hope,
A hope that inspires me to live, and
To make all these things happen
So that the world can have
A new hope, too.
~ from JOURNEY THROUGH HEARTSONGS by Mattie Stepanek, 10 years old