Sounds of Hope

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest…Luke 2:13-14a It was October of 2021. The sky was clear and the sun was shining. I was in Florida, walking on the beach. I could hear the waves break and the birds were everywhere. I don’t know what it is about the birds at the beach – they are beautiful and also annoying. They are aggressive and yet graceful. I was really enjoying the solitude of a walk alone on the beach – the beach is my most happiest place. I used to work in the mental health field and at times would do guided relaxation. While I have some discomfort with this idea, it was required of the job. It starts out with go to the place (in your mind) that you feel most relaxed and peaceful. Immediately I go to the beach. There have been times of anxiety in the dentist chair that I also use this technique and go to the beach in my mind. My phone rang disturbing my peace. It was my eldest son. He ...

 May Days It was a beautiful spring day.   It was already warm as spring comes early in Central Missouri.   It was graduation day at the University of Missouri.   I stood at the hospital window and watched the proud graduates stream out of the Hearnes Center.   A happy future awaited them.   I went to high school with some of them.   I was too far away and there were too many to look at faces. It was 1975.   The hippies were finding Jesus.   The war was winding down and would end.   Patty Hearst was in the news.   And I had just given birth to my third child.   She was in trouble.   I had seen her rushed from delivery by forceps to the pediatricians.   I asked, what did I have?   The doctor in his haste had failed to look to see her gender.   He went and looked and announced it was a girl.   He looked at me and said Joyce, don’t get too excited, I don’t know if she’ll make it. As I stood at that...