This is NOT cool with me! I want to be the kind of person who responds to negativity by either keeping my mouth shut or by redirecting the conversation. And I certainly don’t want to be the one who starts the complaint-downward-spiral! That’s not the type of influence I want to have. So, I’m working on it. What if the words that we use built up instead of tearing down? Imagine the power of THAT influence!

I recently became a mom. I mean really recently…like 2 weeks ago. (So please forgive any meandering or incoherent thoughts. Lack of sleep will do that!) Nestled in with my baby girl during a middle-of-the-night feeding a couple of evenings ago, I came across this sentence as I read her an excerpt from the much-loved EB White novel Charlotte’s Web:

“Life is always a rich and steady time when you are waiting for something to happen or to hatch.”

And tears immediately clouded my vision.

The power of expectation is an idea that’s been rolling around in my heart and head a lot in the last few months as I’ve walked through this miracle of becoming a mother, a dream that I’ve had for as long as I can remember. The waiting was so sweet because of all of the hope wrapped up in the possibilities to come. Who will she look like? Will she love to read like I do? What will she want to be when she grows up?

Being expectant, being hopeful leads us to dream the dreams that keep our hearts alive. It also allows us to see the potential in those around us. If we hope, it implies that we see the room for possibilities that haven’t yet been realized. I would love to lead like that. Seeing room for possibilities—in myself, in those that I’m blessed to lead, in the circumstances that make up my reality—and being expectant for the things that are yet to “hatch.”

What are you hoping for? Who do you see possibilities in and how can you encourage him/her?