Audrey was at a loss for how to deal with the latest of a series of tragic events. It started in January when her pet dog died after 12 years. Audrey loved that dog and really struggled as she missed the daily routines that she and her pet maintained. Her fiancé broke off their engagement shortly after the death of her dog. This sent her into a spiral of missing classes. While Audrey was due to graduate in May, she found out that she was going to fail three of her classes.
Audrey decided to withdraw from college and return home. Her mother had always been able to put things into perspective for her. But this time, even her mother’s nurturing didn’t help. Her favorite meals went uneaten. Her bedroom sent her into despair as she remembered the hopes she once had for her life. She couldn’t bear to leave her home for fear of running into people she knew. She loved to read, but even this became a lost cause as her eyes were just passing over the words.
Her mother, Julia, was at wits end as well. She had no idea of how to help Audrey. She thought about signing her up for therapy, but wasn’t sure whether this would help.
Then Julia saw an ad in the paper – Join Us for a Night of Hopeful Inspiration, the ad said. It was a choral performance featuring songs of hope. “Maybe this will help”, Julia thought.
It took convincing, but Audrey agreed to go to the performance. When the choral group came on stage, the audience was surprised. The group consisted of pre-teens to very senior citizens. But when they began to sing, the room was transfixed. There wasn’t a person in the audience who wasn’t moved by the performance.
At the conclusion of the last song, “You’ll Never Walk Alone”, the audience leaped to their feet in applause and shouts of joy. Audrey was in tears as she reached for her mother’s hand.
Then the choir started to bow. As they bent over, they removed their hair pieces. All of them were bald from the many rounds of chemotherapy they had endured in fighting the cancer that threatened their lives. Then the choir stepped to the sides of the stage as a screen was lowered.
In bold letters, the words: Miracles of Hope appeared. What followed were images of people in their choir robes next to a recent photo. Under each set of photos were the total years they had been cancer-free. There wasn’t one person in the room without tears. Interspersed throughout the photos were also single photos of people in their choir robes, but instead of an accompanying photo, there were the words: In Memoriam. The final photo was of a young girl in her teens and an accompanying photo of a senior woman surrounded by young children with the accompanying words: 63 years and 15 grandchildren.
The audience just stood there and then they began to hug others in the room. Audrey looked at Julia and said: “My life begins today”.
P.S. The link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gpoJNv5dlQ is one that I think will inspire you as you think of this message.