When you believe in the spark of hope

One cold December evening in 2007, in a quiet Canary Wharf apartment I watched this live on TV. Leon Jackson was one of two finalists battling to win the X Factor. It took a while to find this version, which he sang as his final song before the announced the winner. They tend to always show the version he sings after he had won, but it had lost the essence of the whole thing. When he sang this song, I couldn’t stop crying. It was quite a famous song apparently but I had never heard it before. During his touching performance, I could hear it and see it in him that he believed in miracles. He sang it with all of his heart because he had hope.

Hope is what we can cling onto. Hope makes a world of a difference. Hope is what motivates.

Many nights we’ve prayed
With no proof anyone could hear
In our hearts a hopeful song
We barely understood
Now we are not afraid
Although we know there’s much to fear
We were moving mountains
Long before we knew we could

[Chorus]
There can be miracles
When you believe
Though hope is frail
It’s hard to kill
Who knows what miracles
You can achieve
When you believe, somehow you will
You will when you believe

Easy to despair
When all you hear is fear and lies
Easy just to run and hide
To frightened to begin
But if we dare to dare
Don’t wait for answers from the skies
Each of us can look inside
And hear this song within

[Chorus]
There can be miracles
When you believe
Though hope is frail
It’s hard to kill
Who knows what miracles
You can achieve
When you believe, somehow you will
You will when you believe

They don’t always happen when you ask
And it’s easy to give in to your fears
But when you’re blinded by your faith
Can’t see your way clear through the rain
A small but still resilient voice
Says hope is very near

Ohhh

Ohhh(There can be miracles)
Ohhh(When you believe)
Though hope is frail (Though hope is frail)
It’s hard to kill (It’s hard to kill)
Who knows what miracles (Who knows what miracles)
You can achieve (You can achieve)
When you believe, somehow you will (When you believe, somehow you will)
(Now you will) Now you will
You will when you believe (You will when you believe)
You will when you believe