Take Heart

“Take heart,” Jesus said to the woman who had the desperate but forbidden courage to risk a hidden touch of his cloak. Could there have been sweeter words to this woman’s ears?

For her birthday in April, I gave my daughter—and me—matching bracelets, with feathers. We’d been through a hard year, as some of you know. I also gave her Emily Dickinson’s poem “‘Hope’ Is a Thing with Feathers.” The first stanza reads,