Springs Brings Hope

Spring unveils itself as a season of hope. It reawakens earth, lifts spirits, and calls all beings back to nature. Spring is filled with hope evidenced by the blossoming of life. We cannot reach out and grasp hope but we can accept the spirit of possibility it offers in springtime. 

Hope is needed in this world of change and flux. Finding and spreading it is a call to action. 

Tonight, #G2Great offered an inspirational chat, Teaching Hope to the Next Generation. Since it was due time to check in with my one word, hope, I joined the chat to voice my thoughts with my colleagues. My friend, Dr. Mary Howard, opened the conversation with a confirming statement, "We need more HOPE in this world and that begins with our children who will lead the way. We have to make that a priority in our schools and classrooms." Agreeing with this statement, I added that building, cultivating, and sustaining cultures of trust and hope is essential. Classrooms must become havens of joyful learning and educators, as ambassadors of hope, need to bring the spirit of possibilities to all our students. In turn, they need to help students believe in their unique selves in order to find their greatness. 

The ending challenge of #G2Great asked us to state how we would become ambassadors of hope this week. What would we do to spread hope to our students or colleagues. Being a change agent is important to me so I said that I would take up the challenge by creating a digital inspiration to spur others to believe in possibilities. 

I created the above digital inspiration by appsmashing using PicMonkey and FotoJet.

#G2Great shared this beautiful digital titled,Teaching Hope to the Next Generation. The first stanza of Emily Dickinson's poem is here. You can read the rest of the poem at Poetry Foundation.

You may be interested in listening to these videos.

Today the Poetry Friday Roundup is hosted by the amazing Jama Rattigan. Please join me at Jama's Alphabet Soup that offers an eclectic feast of food, fiction, folderol and chewy culinary verse.

I am collecting offerings for my newest gallery, Spring-sational Spring, and hope that my Poetry Friday friends will grace the gallery with their inspirational digitals. I am adding the 2018 Progressive Poem with the names of the 30 contributors to the spring gallery.

A Butterfly's Flight

As breeze washed the Long Island shore today, I watched the seagulls swoon and dip above the sand. Some gazed longingly into the sea, mesmerized by the roaring waves. The sound of sea splashings under the summer sun lulled me into a reflective state. I drifted back to a Cape May summer day when my husband and I watched the dance of a speckled butterfly. She pranced daintily in mid-air, wings not as lengthy as the gulls along the shore, but nonetheless noteworthy. Upon her descent, the butterfly gracefully landed in the deep green foliage of a magenta blossom. With swift control my camera clicked again and again as the butterfly allowed me to capture her beauty. 

The precision landing of the lovely creature of the air reminded me of our flight in life? Sometimes, we sweep through the stretches of life looking for rest. Sometimes, we land precisely where we want to be. Other times, we search a long time looking for a specific destination.

Thinking about the sea and butterflies while gathering resources for an upcoming professional development program, I found a delightful Emily Dickinson poem. The opening line is a beautiful description of today on Long Island.  

A Soft Sea Washed Around The House

by Emily Dickinson

A soft sea washed around the house,
A sea of summer air,
And rose and fell the magic planks
That sailed without a care.
For captain was the butterfly,
For helmsman was the bee,
And an entire universe
For the delighted crew.

Please visit Heidi Mordhurst's site, my juicy little universe, for today's Poetry Friday Round-up. She is delighting us with a whimsical poem about holding on to summer days. 

SPECIAL NOTICES:

I am collecting digital poems embedded in images for the gallery I am designing, Summer Splashings. Please send your offering to me by the end of August. You can access the invitation to the gallery here and view the trailer that I created here. 

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