Nelson Mandela said, “May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.”

I’ve made far more fear-based choices than I have hope-based ones. But the most recent hope-based choice I made was going back to school to earn another master’s degree, but this time in creative writing. My hopes to continue to write and publish pushed me to my best during that program.

Two of my best hope-based choices were my daughter and son. My hopes for their lives to be full of love, grace, creativity, and for each of them to become the person they were meant to be and to use that to change their worlds in positive ways. They often shine a light in dark places, and I admire their courage and love.

I am still working to conquer my fear-based choices for they are the ones that hold me back, keep me in a box, and push me away from who I want to be, who I am meant to be. Still, I’ve not given up and each tiny step I make to get out of my fear gives me more courage to try harder. I literally look to the hills and find there that the Maker of heaven and earth has my back.