Motivation by Joe Roedel

Me: I have no hope.

God: Nah. You still have some left.

Me: Really?

God: Yep.

Me: How much?

God: Well, the exact amount of hope you have left kind of depends.

Me: On what?

God: On how many more times you plan on breathing.

                  ~~~~~~~~~~~

we have been trained

to believe in the lie 

of scarcity 

that all treasures

have a limited 

supply

that there is only 

so much to go

around 

that eventually we 

will run out of

everything 

we’re told that gold,

polar bears, oil and 

coastlines 

can all disappear

in a blink of an

eye 

that may all 

be true -

but

but there is one precious 

commodity that remains 

abundant:  

hope 

it exists in every 

breath we 

inhale 

hope is mixed

in with the 

oxygen

that we take

into our 

lungs 

my love, the air that you

pass through your sweet 

raspberry lips 

is hope 

as long as you 

can keep on

breathing 

hope endures 

breathe in now

please

~ come on, humor me 

take in one long

exaggerated 

breath

let hope build a 

cathedral in

you 

can you feel it yet? 

I know

I know

I know I know I know 

I know

how hard it can be 

to just hold on

sometimes 

I know 

I know

I know I know 

how heavy the weight is 

that you are carrying

around 

I know

I know I know I know

how it feels to be

without any 

hope 

~to feel so trapped that 

there appears no way

out

I know I know

I know IknowIknowIknow 

what true despair

can do to a heart 

it hollows it out like

picnic watermelon 

~ I know how it feels 

I’m writing this poem

with a trembling Hand 

I’m in the dark night

with you right now

I’m fighting back

the tears too 

I’m just as unsure as you are as how I’ll 

be able to make it through the raging storm 

everything feels 

lost

ruined

impossible 

I know

I know 

I know I know

that you want to give up

~ I do to

but we can’t 

because there’s 

so much hope left 

it’s all around us 

our lungs aren’t 

quite done with us yet 

~ we still have some 

breathing to do

breathe

breathe

breathe

hope 

hope

hope 

my love,

the only limit to hope is

how many breaths

you still have to take 

hope abounds 

hope flourishes

hope overflows 

it’s in the atmosphere 

it’s in the clouds

it’s pouring out of the trees

it’s surrounds

it’s resting inside you

I live in a windy place 

called Wyoming

the trees are always

being bent by the gale 

our hair is always

being tussled by the breeze

the wind is 

always whipping here 

I used to loathe the constant blowing 

    ~ but not anymore 

now that I know what

the wind is I adore it 

it’s the power of hope all around me 

it’s the flow of sacred spirit passing over me 

it’s the rush God’s holy exhale all over me 

my love, 

I know these 

times are tough 

I know 

I know I know 



that it feels like 

you should give up 

I know I know 

~ but you can’t ~ we need you 

so, do me a favor

whenever you ever 

feel hopeless 

remember to take. 

a moment and inhale

so very deeply 

because you probably aren’t 

short of 

hope 



~ you are probably 

just short of 

breath

(Joe Roedel)