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Do you sometimes feel hopeless? Does that hopelessness trickle down to the children in your life? It takes effort to keep from passing hopelessness on when experiencing trials. Still, a hopeful role model in a child’s life is a protective factor in child resilience.

Romans 5:3-5 says,” Suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” This is an inspiring thought. Feeling hopeless isn’t the end. Hope can come after perseverance and proven character. Notice too that God can pour it into our hearts if we persevere.

When my children were young, their father moved out, and I felt hopeless. One day I looked out our window and saw that our sycamores had dumped a thick quilt of leaves. The only thing worse than raking leaves is raking wet leaves, and I could see storm clouds rolling in. Life felt hopeless.

Suddenly my kids ran in and wanted to know what I was doing. I said I was thinking. They asked what I was thinking. I started to say, “the leaves and the gray sky,” and something occurred to me. I said, “I’m going to teach you a song.” I started singing the California Dreamer song from the Mammas and the Pappas.

To this day, if one of my grown children starts singing “All the leaves are brown,” another will chime in with “and the sky is gray . . .” So that day, where I could have passed on hopelessness, our family ended up with smiles and their introduction to harmony. I am not a perfect mother and was not at my best then, but I was clinging to God, and this was one of the ways my perseverance became proven character.

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