from UB

Diane and Katy's posts from Tuesday are below.

Christmas is a special time for all of us, for different reasons. The confluence this year of Courtney's accident and Christmas causes us all mixed emotions. We're thankful we have Courtney, we're sad she has so far to go but we're also hopeful for her recovery. In these difficult times, we lean on each other for support and strength. In that spirit, I have "leaned" on another writer to help express my feelings.

This is an adaptation of Francis P. Church’s famous 1897 editorial, “Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Claus”.



Dearest Courtney,
It occurred to me that during this most difficult and trying time, you, or others around you, might be tempted to question your faith. Certainly, there are people in the world who would gladly tell you that there is no God and that you and your family are alone in your suffering. Courtney, those people are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Courtney, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
Yes, Courtney, there is a God. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no God!? It would be as dreary as if there were no Courtneys – a more dreadful thought does not exist! There would be no faith then, no love, no hope, to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which love fills the world would be extinguished.
Not believe in God!? You might as well not believe in the love of your parents. What folly! You might get your Dad to hire men to search the world and the heavens over in the hopes that one may actually see God, but even if they did not see God, what would that prove? Nobody sees God as we see the stars, the sun and the moon, but that is no sign that there is no God. Be comforted in the truth that most real things in the world, precious Courtney, are those that neither children nor men can see. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in this world.
You tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith and love can push aside that heavy curtain to view and picture the heavenly beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Courtney, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
No God? He lives and lives forever! A hundred thousand years from now, Courtney, nay, a 1000 times 100,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of Men who accept his love.
Even now, Court, only you and God fully know your pain and suffering. He alone hears your voice and knows your most intimate thoughts. So from time to time as you struggle and fight your way through all the challenges that await you on your difficult road to recovery, take time for yourself and try to relax. Try to be quiet and still in mind and body and in that silence - in that calm in the midst of the raging storm, know that God is with you.

With love,

Uncle Brian