Like the Saints...I hope

After an incredible 43 year drought the Saints have won the Superbowl. It is an amazing feat and sounds foreign for anyone around here to say the Saints are Superbowl Champions. The paper bag wearing fans and the 'Aints have made it to the top. I won't pretend that I have followed the team because I didn't know who Drew Brees was until a few weeks ago but I like the human interest stories and this one is fantastic. In the pregame show, Drew Bree's story and the message that it was one in the same as New Orlean's story was quite compelling. The comparison to the city devastated by Katrina and Brees devastated with a shoulder injury was made. Their recovery was made together. It shows he and his wife choosing to live IN the city, not in the suburbs, giving back through helping to rebuild schools, etc. After the game, when they showed Drew with his young son and tears in his eyes, I just got a feeling, that this is a "stand up" guy. And everyone associated with this team from Benson, his daughter, to Sean Payton on down, had hope...and a plan. The onside kick was practiced during their two week prep and when Payton gutsily called it's use, the team was ready. Hope, practice and work.

This morning I heard a terrific radio show on Oprah's Soul Series. It was Pastor Ed Bacon and Elizabeth Lesser and she had a quote about hope and it went something like this: don't hope for more than you are willing to work for. The message was that hoping wasn't about "pie in the sky" feelings, it was about work and for me talking about hope in this manner is new. Yet it really spoke to me. I am currently working really hard to change the way I naturally think, and am changing the "tracks" of my worldview and it is hard but I keep practicing. Rev. Ed said that as long as hope was 51% and despair 49%, then hope wins out. The Saints found the perfect combination of leaders and players, they worked hard and their hope and work payed off. It was wonderful to watch and learn from.