Hope – where is it these days? For Kylene, Stuart and their children, the word ‘hope’ seemed like an empty phrase. But sometimes, a little hope, whispered, spoken, cried, shouted, becomes reality. These days, the news seems to get worse by the day. “Where is hope these days?” I asked the question this morning and one word came to me: Lewis.

Lewis, a neighbour’s family ginger cat, had gone missing. I whispered a wee prayer and hoped Lewis would be found. But he wasn’t. A ginger cat started showing up in the back yard. It was skittish and ran away within seconds. But was terribly thin and clearly hungry. One day, after feeding it, I was able to bring it indoors. “Oh please, let it be Lewis,” I whispered. I contacted the family and within minutes, the Dad, Stuart, came over.

As Stuart checked the cat, it was clear that it wasn’t Lewis and that this ginger cat was very ill. So off we went to Duncan Animal Hospital, one of our local vets who kindly cared for it and then turned it over to our local Cat Rescue for adoption. Good ending for that cat, but Lewis was still missing.

That was all before Christmas and I kept praying that Lewis would be found and the family would have a special Christmas gift this year. But that didn’t happen.

And then one morning, I received a wonderful email …“Our ginger cat, was found in Arbutus Ridge!” Thanks to Lewis’ tattoo he’d received from Cowichan Cat Rescue prior to his adoption, he was identified, and the rest, as they say, is history! Happy history!

No one knows how Lewis made it from here to where it was found -14 km away! It is a story that will remain with Lewis. But oh how I’d love to still be teaching Junior and Middle School students so I could tell the students about Lewis and invite them to write a short story about Lewis’ Adventures from when he went missing to when he was found.  I’m sure Lewis had plenty of adventures!

Hope. Have you noticed that at times, hope feels like the ‘elusive pimpernel’: sought everywhere, glimpsed briefly, and then gone again. We search for hope … in prayers … in news … in outcomes … in promises … and often come up empty-handed. When headlines overwhelm and prayers feel unanswered, hope can seem fragile – even foolish. Hope does not ask us to deny reality. It asks only that we keep ‘showing up’, keep caring, keep believing that loss is not the final word.

Hope has a way of surviving in disguise, moving quietly through ordinary kindness, persistence, love, peaceful protests. And for those who don’t have hope, then lean on the hope of those of us who do.

Lewis came home. And for a moment, the ‘elusive pimpernel’ of hope let itself be seen.

In a world that so often feels broken, may Lewis remind us that sometimes, quietly, unexpectedly, what is lost, can still be found … even hope.

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© June maffin
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