A Voice from the Past

I've been putting away the Christmas things.  The old family bible I had out on Christmas morning was going to be returned to its place on the shelf.  I decided to sit down and flip through all the pages; something I've never really done.  On the edge of one page was the handwriting of my great-grandmother along with a small newspaper clipping she'd glued on announcing the death of her daughter Amy.  She had circled a familiar passage.  I turned to the family register and here she had recorded this: "Amy R. Howell died March 16, 1896, age 2 months and 6 days.  Buried the 19th and a mother's arms ache with the emptiness and her heart is sore.  Only consolation, one little angel safe in Heaven.  Oh Amy, watch at the gate for mother."   You could hear the pain in those words written 127 years ago.

Gift#3: Hearing an echo from the past.