Piloting Faith: In the end, only three things matter...

A Word for the Day...

Last week we had to say goodbye to our 16-year-old golden retriever, Abby. For those of you who are "animal people," you know the pain of losing a pet who has been an intimate part of your life for so many years. Abby was a beautiful combination of endless unconditional love and quirky child-like playfulness. She did the craziest things - she liked to eat rocks, have her backend scratched, drink from nasty mud puddles, and roll in dirt patches. Then, she wanted to snuggle...of course.

As she passed peacefully in our home, I remembered the words of Jack Kornfield, who said:

"In the end, just three things matter: How well we have lived, how well we have loved, and how well we have learned to let go."

Abby nailed all three.

Today our house feels empty, but I am left with the deepest sense of gratitude for having been loved by such a magnificent animal. I suppose that is the final great lesson they teach us - they show us how to love so that we might in turn love one another with such abandon.

Live and love fiercely, friends. Life is so very short, and every moment is so very precious. Love you all.

- Rev. Cameron Trimble, author of Piloting Church: Helping Your Congregation Take Flight

Prayer for the Week

Gracious God,

We long to know you. But we are so often blind to your presence, your will, and your ways.

Teach us to see you in the world and in us. Teach us to see past our biases, our anxieties, our assumptions and our fear of each other. These days if seems as if the very salvation of the world rests in our ability to wake up to your Love within us all.

So, help us seek understanding as if it was a long lost treasure, waiting and available to all of us. Make us "woke" or keep us searching until we find you and are finally transformed.

Amen.

- (adapted from The Prayer Wheel by Patton Dodd, Jana Riess and David Van Biema)