Call the Midwife is a British television show described on the website as “drama set in London’s East End during the 1950s, based on the memoirs of Jennifer Worth.” With midwives involved, you know there is always something to do with childbirth, and the episodes always strike me as well-written and engaging. A lot of the stories relate to the remnants of World War II, with such problems as unexploded bombs that threaten half the city.

At the beginning and end of the episodes are voiceovers by Vanessa Redgrave, speaking as the author who was one of the 1950s midwives. The voiceovers either set up the story about to unfold or, at the end, sum up what has happened with a philosophical bent. It was one of these that I want to relay here in this blog post—as a way of saying Happy New Year. Here is Redgrave’s message:

“… in the darkness seeds awake and green shoots unfurl toward the light. Fate might shake us but our roots run deep and we have love to water them. And so we bloom where we are planted, turning our faces to the sun.”

May 2014 be a peace- and joy-filled year.