Word of the Day: Hope.

Hope, according to Dictionary.com, is the feeling that what is wanted can be had or the events will turn out for the best.

If you were in or near Chapel Hill today, you know that today was one of the most somber and gloomy days we’ve had. While a rainy, somber day usually does make me sad, today it gave me a sense of hope.

I woke up this morning right around 6:45 a.m. I made my morning cup of coffee and did my morning devotion and quiet time for about the first hour of my day. I was getting ready to leave my house when I opened the door and saw that it was still just as rainy and gloomy as yesterday. I sighed then opened my weather app to see that it was nonstop rain the whole day.?

As I began my walk onto campus, I felt very drained and dreary due to the weather. It was really cold and wet and the last thing I wanted to do was to walk in the rain to both the gym and class.

I kept trekking forward though because I didn’t want to have an unproductive day solely because of the weather. I kept walking through the rain, feeling more and more drained. But then, as I passed Wilson Library, something caught my eye. The grass—once brown and dull from winter—had turned bright green. This instantly perked up my spirits. The grass had been dull for months because of winter, but today was the first time I noticed it turning green again.

Seeing the grass turn green gave me a sense of hope that, although it is cold and rainy now, we are now coming up on the ending months of winter, which means it’s almost springtime. Springtime is one of my favorite times of the year in Chapel Hill because the flowers are blooming, the trees are green, students begin sitting on the quad, and I get to be outside more.

The green grass not only symbolized the soon arrival of spring but also made me reflect on the changes in my own life. As I approach my last few weeks in Chapel Hill, the idea of graduation often brings sadness, like the weather. But just as spring follows winter, graduation marks the exciting beginning of a new chapter of life. While I don’t have everything figured out yet about what my life will look like post-grad, I think the green grass represents a fresh beginning that I am about to have. Although I often feel sad when I think about it, there is a huge sense of hope that the best is yet to come.

So, while today did start out as dull and dreary, seeing the green grass, as cheesy as it sounds, gave me hope that the best is yet to come and there are so many good, happy days ahead.

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