Peg Eckel

Cool the gray clouds roll, peaking the mountains, Gull in her free flight, swooping the skies. Praise for the mystery, misting the morning, Behind the shadow waiting to shine!

Bright the dawn’s new rise, streaking the heavens; Cool breath of darkness, warming to light. Praise for the whisper of this new morning, Dawning the waking of a new heart.

Mine is a turning, mine is a new life. Mine is a journey closer to You. Praise for the sweet glimpse, caught in a moment, Joy breathing deeply, Dancing in flight!

© 1978 by Peg Eckel. Controlled by Songs & Creations, San Anselmo, CA.

The clouds draped high upon the mountainside as the sea birds happily played “swooping the open skies.” Peg arrived in the dark on the high hill overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge. She had awakened in the early hours of that morning and felt God’s gentle tug to rise, dress and head for the bridge. There was an atmosphere of expectation in the dark hours before dawn. The “mystery” of that morning was compelling – even enchanting. Peg felt that the “misting of the morning” would be like the rising sun escaping the shadow of clouds.

As she set up her chair, Peg felt for the first time that morning is “a cool breath of darkness.” Darkness covers half of every day, but we rarely capture the moment when the shadows of darkness are transformed by “warming to light.” Peg believed that something beyond, some-thing good, someone caring would be life-changing. Peg had settled that dawn was not “the whisper of a new morning,” so much as the whisper of “waking a new heart.”

As dawn splashed lavishly across the heavens that morning, Peg felt her body, mind and heart “turning” in a new direction. “Mine is a new life,” she owned. Growing up in the Eckel family convinced her that faith grew stronger through reminders of church worship, whispers of Bible verses, the warmth of Christ’s clasp. God became real through love and mercy and grace. That got settled during her morning beside the Golden Gate. It was a new touch of the Lord’s hands and head and heart. That morning, Peg caught a “sweet glimpse” of Christ’s love. Her “joy breathed deeply;” and her soul “danced in flight.” Thus did Peg go home to her Lord.

Peg is lovingly remembered; mother, Helen T. Eckel and father, Paul E. Eckel (deceased). Her sister, Frances E. Adams (Fred), brother, Paul T. Eckel (Jan), nieces and nephews: Daphne Williams, Betsy Spencer, Dan Carayiannis, Jamie Carayiannis, Dick Adams, Paul Adams, Faith Eckel and a loving friend and caregiver, Brenda.