“Faith, Hope and Love Remain”

“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” *

It is a gray, cold day in Michigan. The sun has only dared to peek out through the clouds a few times. There has been a gusty wind blowing all day, dropping the temperatures and making it uncomfortable to be outside for long.

As I sit in Al’s study, the sound of the wind chimes catch my attention. There are two hanging outside the window, one that is medium-sized and doesn’t take much wind to move its chimes. The other one is much larger and only stirs with strong gusts.

I can hear the melodious tones of the medium wind chime and the deeper tones of the larger chime playing its bass notes. These are called Corinthian chimes, a series of metal rods hung from a plate with a wooden clapper in the middle.  

When the wind is blowing, the clapper strikes the chimes, producing harmonious melodies. Al picked them out from a garden center years ago, especially loving the deep sounds of the larger one.

“It’s peaceful,” he says, “and soothing.”  Such is the case today. But, if the storm is big enough, the melodies turn to cacophonies, making us wonder if the strings connecting the rods will hold up!

Today, the sounds remind me of my stepdaughter Shanda. After a long battle with cancer, Shanda went home to be with the Lord a few days ago. She spent the last hours of her life peacefully, in the arms of her loving husband, before leaving this earthly home for her heavenly one.

According to Al, “It’s not supposed to be this way. You are supposed to predecease your child, not the other way around.” Heart-breaking for us all.  She was 51 years old.

Shanda was involved with music for the 41 years that I had the privilege of knowing her. With encouragement from her mother, a talented cellist, Shanda started taking violin lessons at the age of four, then began piano lessons and when in college mastered the viola.

The tunes playing on the wind chimes resemble the sounds coming from a glockenspiel, the instrument that Shanda played for a semester in junior high as a member of the marching band. During her first year at Porterville High School, she continued with the violin in the orchestra, then went on to finish the rest of her high schooling at the Interlochen Academy of the Arts in Michigan.

After graduating, she attended the University of Puget Sound where she became a music performance major. Shanda received her master’s degree from Rice University in Texas, and then played in the New York Symphony, Virginia Symphony and finally with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

Winning the audition for a seat in the Detroit Symphony Orchestra felt to her like medaling in the Olympic Games! She was thrilled, as was the entire family. For the next twenty-one years, Shanda played in the viola section of the DSO, forming close bonds with many of the musicians.

 Attending the DSO concerts with her and watching her perform on stage never ceased to amaze me. Every concert was inspiring and uplifting. It was especially touching when Shanda participated in her last concert on December 17th, 2022. Since it was a festive Christmas theme, some of the musicians wore red and green. Shanda came onto the stage in a wheelchair, wearing a red scarf.

When her retirement was announced between numbers, she waved her arm to the audience. Her smiling face could be seen from the balcony where we were sitting!  Colleagues, friends and family cheered and clapped, appreciated Shanda’s courage as well as her passion for inspiring others through the gift of music.

The Corinthian chimes take me to the apostle Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians and his beautiful description of love in chapter thirteen. At the end of that chapter, Paul talks about faith, hope and love.

Faith, hope and love keep Al and me going—faith in the gift of eternal life which is promised to all who put their trust in Jesus, hope that we will one day join Shanda in heaven, and love… overflowing in our hearts from our Heavenly Father and from so many friends and family who have shown great support especially during this difficult time.

Shanda’s love will always remain strong in our hearts. For all of these things, we give thanks.

*1Corinthians 13:13 NIV