A few years ago, I wrote about a man named Roger who lived in the apartment next door to me. I hadn’t seen him around in a while when I’d noticed him one day bicycling through town. As I stopped to chat with him, he mentioned that he had hit a streak of bad luck and was now living on the streets. Although homeless, his spirit was strong and he had hope that his situation would change and that he would bounce back soon. Roger’s spirit and resolve moved me. I had never known anyone before who was without one of our basic human needs, a roof over his head, someplace to call “home.”

A woman I met last year, Mary, was at a recent conference in Colorado. Her home was in Mississippi and she had evacuated just before the hurricane struck. She left town with her computer, her camera and the clothes on her back. That’s all. She lost everything else. Mary’s spirit shined through as she calmly related the events of the past week to us. She expressed hope about her future. A desire she held close to her heart was to go help children in South Africa. She came to the conclusion that this experience was God urging her to go follow her secret passion and that the universe had provided the way for her to do just that.

Life presents us with opportunities in various disguises. Some come through the channels of playfulness and joy. Others arrive as challenging situations that cause us to rely on our inner strength to pull us through. Popular author and college professor, Leo Buscaglia observed that, “There are two big forces at work, external and internal. We have very little control over external forces such as tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, disasters, illness and pain. What really matters is the internal force. How do I respond to those disasters? Over that I have complete control.”

The internal force, our gut instinct, our inner knowing, the Source that flows in and through us... this is our anchor in times of the storm. And from our firm, grounded place we can reach out to others and offer our assistance to help them find their own safe and secure footing.

The outpouring of millions of hearts and hands to those left homeless from the recent disaster is a magnificent tribute to the human spirit and to the compassion we have for each other. It confirms our faith in our fellow humans to rise to the occasion providing help, comfort and, most of all, hope.

Albert Einstein expressed it simply and so beautifully when he said,

Learn from yesterday

Live for today

Hope for tomorrow