Chapel of Hope Stories

Dear Reader:

Easter night I had a ” Lost” dream that seemed to go on eternally! I was a teacher going down a long, winding hall to find my classroom… I could hear young voices… my students I assumed …but I could not find them. Where was my classroom… I quickened my pace… thinking that surely around every corner of the hall I would come to the door. But no door … just distant chatter and laughter.

I was so upset I was in tears and when I finally awoke from the dream … I wasn’t crying ..but I was trying to brush the light off my eyelids.

I glanced at the clock… it was 2:45 in the morning and the bright shiny moon’s rays had come through my window … landing right on my face. I got up and stared out at the moon in all its beauty… then grabbed a robe and scurried to the porch where I took a photo shot! ( title picture)

It wasn’t until I was back in bed that I thought about the dream again …obviously my mind was on something lost or losing… perhaps it was my fear of losing Mandy and the car wreck that prompted the dream.

I will never know but I finally fell back asleep staring at the light filtering through the room… isn’t the sense of isolation ( as in lost) one of the most frightening experiences in our lives? I have always admired people who travel and experience new adventurers on their own.

Not for me… mis-adventures are funny when traveling with a friend or a group… but alone.. scary. The unsettling sensation always reminds me of Dorothy… once she had friends to accompany her… the dark woods weren’t so scary!

By the time I woke up yesterday morning… the sun was pouring in… the dream a distant haze but I knew the remedy… surround myself with beauty… go plant in my garden!

To my delight… my Abraham Lincoln first rose had bloomed! Breathtaking!

As I stared at the rose named for our 16th President- I remembered an essay I wrote on him in one of my Masters’ classes. Abraham Lincoln fought loneliness and ” clinical depression” all his life. If he were alive today his condition would be treated as a ” character issue… a political liability. As biographer Joshua Shenk wrote: ” Lincoln’s condition was indeed a character issue: it gave him the tools and empathy to save the nation.”

Come with me and see how my new blooming friends made me feel connected again to this beautiful world!

So until tomorrow…

Today is my favorite day… Winnie the Pooh

Dear Reader:

Whew! This Easter Family Gathering was one for the memories… preceding …the Easter luncheon. Plans were made weeks ago and then un-made due to Mother Nature and most recently a bizarre incident/ accident out of human control. So by the time we gathered yesterday… it didn’t take long for everyone to realize just how truly blessed we were to be altogether! It didn’t come easy this year!

It all started innocently enough … Tommy and Kaitlyn decided to bring all the family together ( Summerville and Mt Pleasant) and hold a Taste of the Masters picnic later in the afternoon Easter Sunday giving everyone a chance to attend church in the morning and watch the Masters together outside!

They ordered the whole ” picnic” from the Masters and then we just filled in with special Easter dishes and desserts from our extraordinary family member cooks!

Everything was on track until Mother Nature decided to send a spoiler alert-gusty winds and rain storms predicted for the weekend. Tommy and Kaitlyn’s outdoor picnic with outside televisions wasn’t going to work! John and Mandy came to the rescue and volunteered to host at their house… so we breathed a sigh of gratitude…we thought we had everything back in control… Masters Picnic inside now!!! Until … Good Friday!

I was getting all my supplies together Friday afternoon to take Sunday when the phone rang and I heard a sweet but hesitant voice coming from Eva Cate… telling me that something was wrong but hoping it would be okay.

I held the phone out and did a double/take… was this really Eva Cate’s voice? So mature and surprisingly calm… as she said ” Mom’s been in a car accident and daddy just left to check on her… mom was crying but we think okay… daddy will keep calling me to update me and then I will update you Boo.”

MANDY! By now it was all I could do not to jump in my car and drive over frantically but I knew logically with two wrecks already reported on the interstate (as Charleston residents were leaving work early to go out of town for Easter) that I would probably be stuck in traffic for hours.

Knowing Mandy had called John was temporarily reassuring but what had really happened… apparently Mandy had left to pick up Jake from a play date but Eva Cate didn’t know if he was in the car or not. Eva Cate told me her mom had asked if she wanted to ride too but she decided to just stay home with her dad.

I kept asking Eva Cate if she was okay and she said she was. So over the next half hour ( as John called in updates… we learned that Mandy was on Mathis Ferry Road on her way to pick up Jake when her peripheral vision saw a blue blur coming at her in the opposite direction-the car slammed into the passenger side sending her car spinning out of control until it came to rest at a stop sign.

Mandy’s air bag opened knocking off her sunglasses and knocking her head and neck upward… bruised, sore, finger displacement hanging on tightly to the steering wheel but overall miraculously spared.

The other driver apparently had a long list of driving accidents … her air bag didn’t open so she was ambulanced to the nearest emergency room to be checked… her car had spun too and came close to hitting a third car filled with teenagers waiting to pull out of a side street-no one hurt thankfully!

Mandy’s car was totaled… it wasn’t until later when I got the picture that I started shaking.. the ” what if’s “set in… if Eva Cate had decided to ride she would have been on the passenger side where the full impact took place… if Mandy had already picked up Jake… the same situation.

John and Mandy insisted that the family gathering would go on… so yesterday was a day filled with gratitude for life and God’s Presence in it.

I called Honey to thank her for my prayer cross and told her Saturday night about Mandy’s accident-I also told her two things happened minutes before Eva Cate called me… I noticed I had forgotten to put my prayer cross necklace on ( on coffee table) and slipped it over my head and then the doorbell rang-it was Fed Ex delivering my new Boo’s Blessing wooden cross plaque.

I climbed up on the porch bench and put it up on the back brick wall-then looked down at my wooden cross pendulum … and thought… ” Now all’s right with the world.” ( It would be… thanks to God)

Honey texted me yesterday and said for two days -last Thursday and Friday-she had me on her mind and felt an urge to call but didn’t as she was preparing for Easter and every time she feels that urge it usually means something is about to happen…

It did …but rest assured Honey God had it… the best backseat Driver around!

So until tomorrow… What could have been a tragic Easter this year turned into a renewed strength of life and the power of each other’s presence in unity and love!

The other Dingles had a great Easter too in Florida with friends! Spring break is on!

Dear Reader:

The title picture today just made me smile… bringing the Easter Bunny and the Risen Christ together on this most miraculous of days.

Immediately it reminded me of my favorite children’s Easter book -Easter Bunny’s Amazing Day.

The story begins with a little bunny confessing that though he was a rabbit-he acted more like a scaredy-cat. He was afraid of everything!

“I was afraid of the dark, thunder, lightning, shadows, horses’ hooves, and dark gloomy caves.”

Then one day… everything the little bunny was scared of …happened on the same day! Soldiers on horses came galloping into bunny’s quiet beautiful garden, then darkness descended in the middle of the day accompanied by a terrible storm with thunder and lightning-even the ground shook!

Terrified… Bunny ran for cover and found himself in a dark cave! Soon people with torches entered the cave carrying a man wrapped in white clothes and placed him on a flat rock. They then left but not before rolling a big stone in front of the entrance. Bunny’s worst fear… trapped in a dark cave!

Scared and lonely Bunny hopped on the flat rock next to the man and snuggled under the white cloth too… there was something about him that made Bunny not feel alone.

Time passed… suddenly the most amazing thing happened… the cave filled with the brightest light! The man arose and Bunny could see the light was coming from him! Suddenly the swoosh sound of fresh air sounded and pushed the stone away.

The man bent down and extended his hand to the bunny who hopped into his warm hand.

Bunny was scooped up next to the man’s heart and he heard the words” Don’t be afraid Little Bunny. I am with you always.” From that moment on Little Bunny was never afraid again!

The day when the man glowed and left the darkness is called Easter… so that is why I am called The Easter Bunny!

So until tomorrow… Let us take time to thank Jesus for Easter and for everything.

Today is my favorite day-Winnie the Pooh

Dear Reader:

Haven’t storytellers, from the beginning of time… recognized a central theme that is still played over and over again today in almost every Disney children’s production. And that theme is… whatever you are looking for to make you feel happy and good about oneself can only be found within yourself.

In fact the title quote is a Helen Keller quote. Take a moment and think about it…she would never be able to see or hear the world around her… yet this amazing woman was able to discover and change the world through what she found inside herself… miraculous.

And she didn’t do it alone… she was not alone in her silent darkness … she later explained how she knew from childhood on… she was with her Creator.

“I believe that God is in me as seen as the sun is in the color and fragrance of a flower- the Light in my darkness, the Voice in my silence.“

And the most important day in her life? ” The most important day I remember in all my life is the one on which my teacher Anne Sullivan came to me…My TEACHER … God worked through her… “

Helen Keller ” I thank God for my handicaps, for, through them, I have found myself, my work, and my God.”

On this day before Easter… following Jesus’s death upon the cross… the disciples were gathered… their faith being tested as never before… what now? What now indeed. They understood that their lives were still endangered… they prayed for direction and guidance. A darkness of doubt and confusion enveloped them … as deep as the darkness that later consumed Helen Keller’s life from birth to death.

Like Helen the disciples too would learn ” Self-pity is our worst enemy” and as Helen concluded… The Most Important Thing to Learn in this life is… “TRUST GOD UNHESITATINGLY!”

So on this preparation day before Easter… May we be filled with gratitude for our sacred past and courageous people who sacrificed so much to show us the Way… the Light! To prepare us for Easter Sunday… for the Resurrection!

Today is my favorite day-Winnie the Pooh

Dear Reader:

As I reassembled the Easter Tomb scene that I ordered last year… I realized that in the big picture Jesus’ beginning and ending had come, like life, full circle.

I felt like I was putting a Christmas Nativity scene together… then it struck me! I was ! Jesus went from being born to re-born. In both scenes Jesus’ mother Mary is there, family, friends, animals, and angels. I decided to even add a rock and rabbit in my garden!

When I first read today’s title…Don’t Leave Life… Without It…. I, admittedly, shook my head initially. How is that possible? Then the light came on. By the time we pass.. can others say our lives were lived to the fullest? Did we truly live life when we were alive?

I remember associating my daddy with Jesus… when I first learned in Sunday School ( as a child) that they both died in their early 30’s … seemingly before they could complete all their dreams and aspirations. It appeared to me that they both were cheated out of their full potential. I remember feeling angry… I wanted my daddy back and Jesus should have lived longer. It all seemed terribly unfair to me. I remember glaring at elderly members in our family’s congregation wondering why them and not my daddy?

All these pent-up feelings came flooding back when David died at 21-weeks before his college graduation and a potential teaching career. Why oh why?

Do y’all remember the cartoon sequence about carrying the cross… one character kept asking for his cross to be cut down because he felt it was too heavy for him to carry… only to encounter a long ravine before the final promised land goal… and now he couldn’t cross it … devastated he looked up and saw help coming from above.

Only God knows when our time is complete on earth and no doubt ( as scripture tells us) even when His Own Son begged to be relieved from pain and suffering it was not to be. In the end… in every situation we find so difficult to accept… especially loved ones’ passings… it comes down to one common denominator-FAITH. ( ” My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me-nevertheless not as I will but as you will… Your will be done.” )

Until one day when we finally get to open the Book of Answers to all the human ” WHY” questions… it is faith that will take us home.

So until tomorrow… Good Friday… the most emotionally difficult day of Easter… yet if we have faith… Good Friday is also Homecoming and what a day of joyous celebration that will be! The day we finally lay down our burdens and watch God pick them up.

Today is my favorite day-Winnie the Pooh

Dear Reader:

How many times over a lifetime have we felt reluctant to attend some type of a gathering for many diversified reasons….

Perhaps we’re afraid of being dressed inappropriately, not looking perfect in our own eyes, or not knowing anyone to hang with or simply feeling like the outsider and/ or scared of being ridiculed. We have all been there … but, upon reflection, most of the times we return feeling glad we went and proud of our own personal bravery.

In these reflective days leading to Easter Sunday … how must Jesus have felt returning one last time to Jerusalem… remembered today as Palm Sunday. Because there was a difference in His arrival… He knew that this day … His entrance … would be the beginning, the catalyst of His last days on earth in human form.

He knew, for certain, what awaited Him… betrayal, suffering, ridicule, and yes…isolation. And yet …He went anyway. And contrary to the rest of us ( today’s title) Jesus was present and He was perfect! God’s Son… and a proud Father/Son.

But, no doubt, human thoughts and feelings ran through Him also. He was leaving His Mother, family and closest friends. He would die with the sounds of jeers and taunts prevailing over soft sobs and broken hearts.

And yet… upon palm fronds thrown in front of Jesus’s path through Jerusalem… the ” righteousness” of Jesus would be proclaimed to the people.

I was thinking the other day… if there had been thank you cards back then… what would it look like or say on the cover. What could come close today?

God Wink! I found it! Can’t believe I did!

So until tomorrow… Jesus was and continues to be the greatest “present” we humans have ever received… and why? … because Jesus stays present in our lives. Reach out today and hold His Hand! What a friend we have in Jesus!

Today is my favorite day -Winnie the Pooh

Remember.. we don’t have to be perfect for every situation we find ourselves in but we need to be present… sometimes that is all any of us need or can give back.

Dear Reader:

I have discovered over the years that I am the best treasure hider in the world. I put something I love in a ” secure” location like a specified drawer or cabinet… only to discover ( at a later date) it is no longer there. So where… where indeed!

True confession… I, myself, am the culprit. I have this terrible ( unconscious) habit of picking up some random item and dropping it off while I am putting up or cleaning up around the house. Case-in-point.

A couple of days ago I washed and folded all the wash cloths and towels and then placed them in the linen closet. I did a few other chores and finally plopped in my recliner… ready to chill and watch a television program.

Alas… no remote control. Never do I get angrier with myself than over stupid things like this…. I have finally admitted to myself that I am a ” distracted, inattentive, thief.” ( I am sure there must be an ” Anonymous” Something Organization that covers us ” Not Again” distractibles! )

At least I know myself well enough now to trace back where I was since last changing stations or raising or lowering volume. I have found my remote control in the kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, garden, car, and porch… and or the linen closet! ( where I found the remote! 😂)

If I get distracted… whatever is in my hand at the moment goes with me … wherever that is … car keys, purses, books, remote controls and phones. I always find them , to date… but oh the aggravation!

But on the flip side… it allows me the happiness of finding treasures along the way… like this!

Yesterday I opened a drawer I just recently cleaned out but I didn’t remember this token gift being in it. I stopped and re-read the message on the front… it was obvious I found it when I needed to find it!

I used to talk about the different phases and stages we go through in life but lately I think life is more like spinning plates on a stick. As a child I loved watching Ed Sullivan when he had acrobats who could ride a bike on a tightrope while catching plates thrown and spinning them on sticks… increasing the number as the crowd roared.

These days I feel like I go through periods when I am immersed in keeping all the plates in my life spinning… until I can’t… and they all come tumbling down. I finally stop and rest but life starts us spinning again and so on and so on.

That is when I need a Prayer Rock to remind myself to re-prioritize my personal goals. Just rubbing and feeling the smooth stone reminds me that life goes smoother with God and prayer in it. It also reminds me to stay grateful… filled with gratitude for life. Most importantly the prayer rock reminds me that I am never alone throughout the day. God is with me always.

So until tomorrow… …” Prayer doesn’t change God… it changes me”…CS Lewis

Today is my favorite day-Winnie the Pooh

Dear Reader:

Like all children… I still remember the mind-boggling sensation of looking up at the stars at night and listening to the stories man has written across the universe since the beginning of time. Socrates was right-” Wonder… this is where philosophy begins.”

Carl Sagan wrote: ” The Cosmos stirs us as if a distant memory is falling from the stars… the universe is the greatest of mysteries. “

Can’t we tell a lot about a person from the radio station one listens to? Today, of course there is so much competition and options for radio programs but I find myself frequenting stations that play the gamut of music from different decades. ( If Rod Stewart’s ” Forever Young” comes on… down go the windows and I start singing at the top of my lungs! A good omen for the day!)!

What we frequent in all areas of life tell the world much about us. So when I came across this interesting perspective of our relationship with the universe through frequency… I wanted to share it.

Wow! Pretty mind-boggling. The ” wonder ” of new ideas and thoughts. From our home on earth we look out into the universe and strive to imagine the sort of world into which we are born! Positive manifesting is emitting joyful energy around ourselves that can be felt by others.

So until tomorrow… the seven gifts or manifestations of the Holy Spirit are wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and love of God. If we carry these attributes within us… and manifest them to others…then the universe should be concluding with ” Over and out… keep spreading good energy all about!” ” Roger… keep going! ”

Today is my favorite day-Winnie the Pooh

Talk about ” manifesting positive energy” Nancy Jean and I had so much positive energy catching up at Oscars yesterday… it filled the dining room!

Dear Reader:

Since first hearing this quote while visiting Denmark in a teacher exchange, I have been intrigued by the concept.

I think the secret behind Soren Kiekkegaard( Danish philosopher, theologian, philosopher, poet and religious author’s title quote) is found on these famous tapestries, as well as, all other tapestries.

Most of us never take time to think about what the back of gigantic tapestries must look like- we have no awareness or interest deciphering differences from the back and the front. Yet it is in this very difference that God teaches us a wonderful lesson about His Creations… including us!

“I’ve heard God’s work in our lives compared to the weavers of a tapestry. On one side… you have a beautiful work of art. But if you lift the corner and look behind the tapestry as it was being woven, you would conclude that nothing beautiful was taking shape. Yet when you flip it and look at the front/ you see every strand finds its perfect place according to the artist.

” One day God will flip over history and we will see that every individual strand of our lives was part of a picture God wove together for His Glory!” ( Source: Devotional Daily: Greenar)

Benedikte Christensen, my Danish friend and exchange teacher ( lived in Copenhagen) took me over to see the Queen’s Palace during my instructional interim and it was fabulous!

So until tomorrow… we are a continuous work in progress-only God knows exactly how the finished product will look but rest assured… it will be beautiful as we ,too, see life more clearly!

Today is my favorite day-Winnie the Pooh

Dear Reader:

Don’t we all get to different benchmarks in our lives… and wish we could drop out of our daily race … that seems suddenly too repetitive and too demanding of our precious time called life?

I find it interesting that we refer to people as the ” human race” … the term itself seems to convey pictures of billions of people racing through life with only one goal ahead… crossing the finish line. Is that really all there is?

It takes courage to drop out of the race… when I retired I knew financially it was going to be tough( even picking up some college classes as an instructor.) But for me… I needed to find me again. ( I didn’t know I was just three years away from a life-altering breast cancer diagnosis. A game changer.)

As strange as it sounds now… my life was about to have more meaning and substance than ever before! Family and friends rallied around me and helped me build a garden. This year… 2023 is the tenth anniversary of the moon garden!

It was the catalyst that made me stop living life continuously looking ahead and instead I started living in the moment! Through my garden I discovered a new awareness. Novelist Henry James described this phenomenon best: ” Awareness is the moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass. It becomes a mysterious, indescribable, magnificent world in itself.”

A couple of weeks ago I had my regularly scheduled oncologist appointment. Some of the blood tests had come back but not all… so the visit ended with the possibility of needing more scans depending on the results of certain new blood tests… now made available that can predict early tumors.

I said a silent prayer I wouldn’t need more procedures and a calmness came over me… as I did my breathing exercises while my heart rhythms were checked…

For the first time I paid close attention to this part of my check-up instead of just treating it in a perfunctory manner. I could feel air moving into my lungs… breathing in, breathing out. I began to feel my heart throb in my chest. It dawned on me that I was hearing life and how blessed I am. Each moment is filled with a potential miracle.

I was alive! How can I ever take that for granted again. Quit worrying about tomorrow… this beautiful moment filled with heart beats promising more time to spend with those I love… was all I needed!

So until tomorrow… ” The day you stop racing is day you win the race.” ( Bob Marley)

Today is my favorite day… Winnie the Pooh