Author Archives: joyocala

Hospitals are places of healing and care.   They are also places of anxiety and pain.  The two seem like opposites, how can this be. I was reminded of this enigma, as we prepared for a visit to the hospital today.  … Continue reading →

Sympathy, empathy, compassion what do these words mean? Sympathy is one we most certainly recognize as having pity or sorrow for someone. Of course, empathy means you have walked the same path, perhaps had the same experience and are able … Continue reading →

A woman once went for confession, admitting to badmouthing people. The confessor, a wise old man, listened lovingly, absolved her and gave her a strange penance.  He told her to go home, get a hen, come back, plucking the bird’s … Continue reading →

When I was a small child, I was terribly afraid of the dark. I would do anything not to have to go into a dark room or out into the black night. I did not get any sympathy from my … Continue reading →

Old apple tree, we’ll wassail theeAnd hoping thou wilt bear.The Lord does know where we shall beTo be merry another year.  Apple Tree Wassail, Somerset, England We had a McIntosh apple tree in our Chicago backyard. There was a hook … Continue reading →

A little boy’s mother abandoned him. He never met his father. He has no place to call home. No family to take him in.  A teenager sits in a crowded lunchroom but no one speaks to her.  No one looks … Continue reading →

 We all have stories of struggle and suffering. Medical crises, divorce, re-location, downsizing of a job/salary, and storms. Some we remember the exact date of. November 26, 1968: I suffer a concussion after hitting my head on the driveway. September … Continue reading →

As I write this in early August, it has been exceptionally rainy.  The rain gauge overflows and the lawn is as green as it gets.   Overcast skies have meant than even in August I can go out for a morning … Continue reading →

The title is asking you to visualize and perhaps “hear” the call from one canyon-like area to another where echoes resound gloriously. Hello…..hello Mother Teresa said, “Kind words can be short and easy to speak but their echoes are truly endless. ”I have … Continue reading →

Here is another post I recently received and I decided to share it with all of you with some of my own reflections added.  I feel this message has real value and is a reminder for people who are currently … Continue reading →