Everything falls into place

Jan. 8, 2004

Dear Leslie,

When DC is scared, she look for signs of reassurance. She swears she saw one New Year's Eve.

She was worried because of the troubles in the world, and now terrorists were threatening to ring in the New Year by blowing up Las Vegas. When a rare snowfall fluttered like angels' wings in the lights of Las Vegas, DC wondered if it was a sign of sorrow or salvation.

DC was worried about our friend, Charlie, too, because he recently lost his job when the store he worked for closed. But Charlie didn't seem overly concerned. He invited his friends over for a quiet New Year's Eve.

Through most of the evening we encircled a big bonfire talking and watching embers floating skyward where they were transformed into stars.

At midnight everyone hugged each other and silently made our resolutions. The year had been a rocky one filled with threats and ominousness, in DC's mind, and the future seemed uncertain. She was almost sure something terrible was going to happen that night.

Often I ask why her view through the looking glass is so dark, and sometimes I have to fight against the bleakness that is so real to her. Negativity can draw the very events she fears to her, I think. Simply put, whatever you focus your attention on is what you get -- good or bad.

"But the Angel said to them, Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all mankind."

An hour into the New Year, a voice in the shadows asked if they could stand by the bonfire. Three strangers approached. They weren't scary, just different: Two young men with dreadlocks, a young woman with a hood over her head.

They looked like Deadheads.

The strangers said they were traveling from Oregon to New York in a van that keeps breaking down. After it stopped running in a town nearby, someone banged on the van, pointed a gun and told them to leave.

Cape Girardeau was kinder, they said. They were doing odd jobs to make enough money for repairs that would let them be on their way.

After warming their hands at the fire, talking a bit more and complying with a request to sing a song, they thanked everyone and dissolved back into the shadows.

"Mary treasured all these things and reflected on them in her heart."

DC sometimes gives the children's sermon at her church. While she talks, they sit, some piously and some fidgeting, in the first pew on the left-hand side.

Sunday she told the children about the New Year's Eve party.

In her sermon three days after the scary New Year began, the three strangers had become a sign of the wise men. Their faith in their journey had reassured her that if goodness and love are atop our list of resolutions, miracles and signs occur and the universe falls into place.

"The shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told."

Love, Sam

Sam Blackwell is managing editor for the Southeast Missourian.