Stories &amp; Illustrations

The Hymn Born in the Dark

In 1882, Civilla Martin asked her friend Mrs. Doolittle how she maintained such steadfast joy despite being bedridden for over twenty years. Mrs. Doolittle smiled...

Universalfaith

229 words

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The Heart That Learns to Beat Again

In 1967, Dr. Christiaan Barnard performed the first successful human heart transplant in Cape Town, South Africa. His patient, Louis Washkansky, had a heart so...

Universaltransformation

252 words

The Song He Almost Never Wrote

In 1707, Isaac Watts sat in a small English chapel, frustrated. The congregation had just sung another dreary, plodding psalm arrangement, and Watts complained to...

Universalsacrifice

234 words

The Light That Shines in Crushing Darkness

In 2019, a team of Japanese scientists at the RIKEN Center achieved something remarkable. They placed a sample of carbon atoms under pressures exceeding 40...

239 words

The Symphony That Cannot Be Played Alone

In 1824, Ludwig van Beethoven premiered his Ninth Symphony in Vienna. By then, he was almost completely deaf. He could not hear a single note...

Universalcommunity

238 words

The Heartbeat That Learns to Listen

In 2017, researchers at the University of California, Davis published a remarkable finding about human hearts. When people sing together in a choir, their heart...

Universalcommunity

245 words

When the Maestro Changes the Key

In 1741, George Frideric Handel was broke, paralyzed by debt, and half-convinced his career was over. Then a librettist named Charles Jennens handed him a...

247 words

When Love Finds Its Voice

In 1984, Stevie Wonder and Dionne Warwick recorded "That's What Friends Are For," a song originally written for a film soundtrack that nobody noticed. It...

Universallove

232 words

The Deaf Composer Who Refused Silence

In 1824, Ludwig van Beethoven stood on stage at the Theater am Kärntnertor in Vienna for the premiere of his Ninth Symphony. He was almost...

248 words

The Unfinished Sculptures of Michelangelo

In the Galleria dell'Accademia in Florence, visitors walk a long hallway lined with four unfinished marble sculptures by Michelangelo. Known as the Prisoners or the...

Universalidentity

231 words

From Convict to Saint: Jean Valjean and the Bishop's Candlesticks

In Victor Hugo's *Les Misérables*, a newly released convict named Jean Valjean stumbles to the door of Bishop Myriel, desperate and bitter after nineteen years...

Universaltransformation

225 words

The Cathedral Builders of Chartres

In 1194, a devastating fire swept through the town of Chartres, France, destroying most of its beloved cathedral. The townspeople could have walked away. They...

240 words

The Hymn That Was Born in the Dark

In 1871, Horatio Spafford lost nearly everything in the Great Chicago Fire. Two years later, he sent his wife and four daughters ahead on a...

248 words

The Symphony That Needs Every Chair Filled

In 1824, Ludwig van Beethoven conducted the premiere of his Ninth Symphony in Vienna. By then, he was almost entirely deaf. He could not hear...

Universalcommunity

230 words

The Golden Door

In 1886, a young French sculptor named Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi watched as workers on Bedloe's Island removed the last wooden scaffolding from around the Statue...

Universalfreedom

238 words

The Painter Who Faced the Wall

In 1508, Michelangelo Buonagiolo stood at the base of the Sistine Chapel and looked up at the vast, empty ceiling above him. He was terrified....

228 words

The Song He Couldn't Sing

In 1989, Johnny Cash was at his lowest. Dropped by his record label, dismissed by Nashville as a relic, he played small venues to half-empty...

Universalredemption

239 words

Golden Scars

In Japan, there is a centuries-old art form called kintsugi — the practice of repairing broken pottery with lacquer mixed with powdered gold. When a...

Universalredemption

234 words

The Voice That Almost Stayed Silent

In 1968, a young woman named Roberta Flack was working as a music teacher in Washington, D.C. She played piano at a small club called...

Universalidentity

242 words

The Cells That Listen

In 2012, Nobel Prize-winning scientist Shinya Yamanaka demonstrated something remarkable about human cells. He discovered that mature, specialized cells could be reprogrammed back to their...

233 words

The Chisel That Surrendered

When Michelangelo carved his masterpiece David from a single block of Carrara marble, he worked with a principle that every sculptor understands but few of...

244 words

The Forest That Refused to Stay Dead

In 1980, Mount St. Helens erupted with the force of five hundred atomic bombs. The blast flattened 230 square miles of old-growth forest in minutes....

Universalrestoration

239 words

When the Piano Fell Silent, Then Sang Again

In 1824, Ludwig van Beethoven stood on stage in Vienna conducting the premiere of his Ninth Symphony. He could not hear a single note. By...

Universalrestoration

236 words