• Bearer of Hope and Grace
• Hope in the Middle
• It’s Her!
• Love Spawns Miracles
• Return to the Light
• The Christmas Gift
• I Am a Healer
• Life of Love and Laughter
• The Birthday Race

Bearer of Hope and Grace

For her lifetime commitment
To see the heart of God
Behind even
The most distressing disguises.

For her lifetime commitment
To heal body, mind, and spirit
Of those
Who are lost and in pain.

For her lifetime commitment
To bless the world
With her
Love, Strength, and Light.

We honor this day
The Bearer
Of Hope and Grace.

May she rejoice in her Creations
Knowing they are Good.

May she feel our Support
Knowing she is never alone.

And may she always smile
Knowing at the end of great pain
God blesses us—always—
With the Greatest of Gifts.

For Jennifer, my friend and fellow massage therapist, on the day of the birth of her second daughter, Reagan Hope, who joins her sister, Jillian Grace, December 19, 2004.

Hope in the Middle

A precious child
A Child of Light
Born this day
To bless us all.

We think we know
What Life’s about.
Things to do.
Places to be.

A child arrives
And nothing else matters.
For an instant…
We are fully present.

The birth of a child
Is a Holy Moment.
We all know it.
We all feel it.

Out of the darkness
She brings Light.
The Light of her eyes.
The Light of her Love.

Before she was born
There were fears
And flowing waves
Of pain.

Now she is here…
Giving Love.
Receiving Love.
Making God’s Love Real.

She is born to a world
Where many are lost.
They dream of salvation
But they have lost Hope.

Yet, Hope is right here.
In the eyes of a child.
In her laughter
And in her special song.

This Christmas season
Let there be Hope,
God’s Sacred Present
In the middle of All That Is.

For Reagan Hope Scotchel on her birth day, December 19, 2004
With love from Rick Wilkes. I am honored to be your friend.

It’s Her!

Love Spawns Miracles

He says, “I love you.”
She says, “I do, too.”
From that love
God fashions a miracle.

A child—
One part him,
One part her,
All parts loved.

Will he be a boy?
Or will she be a girl?
A blessing…
That much is sure.

For Cindy & Steve Storck on the morning before the birth of their third child, March 8, 2001

Return to the Light

The nights are long.
The morning sun awakens too late
and departs too soon.
We yearn for summer days—
warmer, happier times.
But this is the start of winter.
This is a dark time of year.

Yet, we rejoice!
We are not in Depression’s grip
nor fooled by bleak predictions.
For we know God’s Truth.

Although the days are darker,
despite the landscape cold and bare,
today we begin
the return to the Light.

What manner of child
would be born on such a day?
A child to remind us…
that Light always returns.
Within her eyes
we see the new life
that always springs from darkness.
We are afraid no more.

No matter how bleak,
no matter how frostbitten our heart,
how can we not know
there is a God, there is hope,
when we see this Solstice Child.

And so it was at her birth.
And so it remains today.
We are born from darkness
into Light… each day.
Let us remember.

Each smile,
Each breath,
Each and every laugh
returns us to the Light
that was born within us all.

The Christmas Gift

Two thousand years ago
on a day at the dawn of winter,
a special boy was born.

In his heart he knew the secrets
to a life of joy, peace,
and everlasting love.

Know that this special son of yours
is no different.
He has within his heart
the magical powers
to heal the world.

As you build a life together,
seek out these qualities.
You will find them
in his smile,
in his laugh,
and in his cry.

Look beyond his tiny body,
and see all the glory of the Universe
that brought this special soul
to be your first born son.

May all the blessings of Christmas be with you both, and with your Child of Light, forever.

To Julie and Robbie on the birth of their son Kenny

I Am a Healer

I am a healer.
I bring my heart
and my skill to others
so that they may be released
from pain and fear.

I touch new life.
With knowing fingers
I bring forth children
into the world of breath
sunshine, and smiles.

I know the blessing
of these healing gifts
bestowed upon me by God.
Where I can help… I do.

I have given so much of myself
these past years
and been rewarded
in ways too sacred to describe.

Yet there is so much pain,
so many who need my strength,
my love, my gifts.

But now, it is time for me to heal,
to give to my Self and my family
the courage and the love
we now need.

So I rest,
and through what pain and dis-ease
comes my way,
I grow deeper compassion and
understanding—
for my Self
and all those whose lives I touch.

For Dr. Rita Payne, M.D., Ob-Gyn, September 5, 1994 (the doctor who delivered Jimmy & Rebecca, before her sabattical)