Thank you, Wally
A Meditation by Rev. Cameron Trimble
“These all died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them.” — Hebrews 11:13
Yesterday, world-class aviator Wally Funk died at the age of 86.
Most people remember her as the oldest woman to travel into space. In 2021, at eighty-two, she finally crossed the Kármán line on Blue Origin after waiting almost sixty years for a chance she had earned long before. The headlines called it a moment of justice. At last, one of America’s forgotten pioneers reached the stars. But before Wally Funk ever left the Earth, she had already changed it.
In 1961, she was one of thirteen women chosen for the Mercury 13 program. They went through the same tough medical and psychological tests as the men training to be NASA astronauts. Wally did especially well. In many tests, she outperformed the men. She spent over ten hours in a sensory deprivation tank, longer than John Glenn. By every important measure, she proved she belonged.
It wasn’t enough.
NASA did not allow women to become astronauts. The program ended not because the women lacked ability, but because they could not get something they had no control over in that era: permission.
Many people might have given up. Wally did not. She kept flying.
She became the first female inspector for the Federal Aviation Administration and the first female air safety investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board. She taught thousands of people to fly. Every hour she spent in the cockpit made it easier for women who followed. I was one of them.
As a young female pilot, Wally Funk was one of my heroes. Before I ever flew a plane, she was showing that women belonged in the cockpit. I could follow this path because she never gave up on hers.
In the Christian tradition, the writer of Hebrews talks about people who “died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them.” They lived for a future they might never see. Their faithfulness became someone else’s inheritance.
I think about this every time I taxi down a runway. Most people notice the airplane, but few notice the runway. No plane takes off without it. Every runway is there because many people worked to clear the land, pour the concrete, paint the lines, check the lights, and make it ready for someone else to fly. The runway rarely gets applause. It just carries the weight of someone else’s dream.
Wally Funk became like one of those runways, not just because she went to space at eighty-two, but because for sixty years she refused to let disappointment turn into bitterness. She kept doing the work she loved. She kept opening doors others said should stay closed. She showed that our calling does not depend on whether the world notices it.
That might be one of the hardest lessons in spiritual life. We live in a culture that focuses on results. We measure success by promotions, awards, followers, elections, headlines, and wins. But God seems to care more about faithfulness than outcomes.
The saints rarely finish the work they start. Moses never entered the Promised Land. The prophets dreamed of justice they never saw. John the Baptist prepared the way for someone else. Again and again, Scripture reminds us that the most important calling is not reaching the end, but preparing the way.
I wonder how many people today are carrying dreams they may never fully realize. A teacher shaping a child’s imagination. A scientist searching for a cure. A parent sacrificing for the next generation. An activist planting seeds whose fruit they may never taste. A clergy person guiding a congregation through hard times.
None of them may get the recognition they deserve. But maybe recognition was never the point.
Maybe the invitation is just to keep building the runway, because somewhere, someone you will never meet is waiting to take flight.
We are in this together,
Cameron
Reflection Questions
Who prepared the runway for your own life? Who made your vocation possible long before you ever arrived?
Where are you being called to remain faithful, even if you may never see the full fruit of your labor?
What dream or opportunity might become possible for someone else because of the work you are doing today?
A Prayer for the Day
A Prayer For Those Who Prepare the Way
Faithful God, You are always at work through ordinary people whose names are often forgotten. Thank you for the teachers, mentors, parents, scientists, artists, pilots, pastors, and pioneers who prepared the way for those who followed. When our efforts seem unnoticed, strengthen our resolve. When disappointment tempts us to abandon our calling, renew our courage. Teach us to measure our lives not by recognition, but by faithfulness. And may the work of our hands become a blessing for generations we may never meet. Amen.
Spiritual Practice
Write a Thank You
Today, reach out to someone who prepared the runway for your life. Perhaps it was a teacher who believed in you. A mentor who opened a door. A parent who sacrificed. A colleague who encouraged you. Or someone whose example quietly expanded your imagination.
Write them a note.
Tell them one specific way your life is different because they were faithful to their calling.
If they have died, write the letter anyway. Read it aloud.
Then ask yourself: Whose runway am I building now?
Upcoming Events That Might Be of Interest…
My team and I launched a new experiment we are calling “The Commons.” It’s an online space centered around communities of practice: groups of people who share a common concern, set of problems, or passion for a topic, and deepen their knowledge and expertise by interacting on an ongoing basis. Join the community here.
July 14, 11:00 - 12:30pm ET - Community Conversation on The Commons - Margaret Wheatley will be joining me for a conversation on how we build “islands of sanity” in a world that feels increasingly fragile. She has identified five pillars in the architecture of resilient community. For those of us wishing to form and be in healthy community with others in this time, you don’t want to miss this conversation. REGISTER HERE.
July 28 - September 1, 2026, 12:30-1:30pmET - Book Club in The Commons - FREE - We are reading our next book, “I Eat The Stars” by Sarah Wilson. We will meet each Tuesday for 6 weeks. It’s such great fun. I hope you will be a part. All are welcome! RSVP HERE.
September 8, 2026, 7-9pm ET, ONLINE EVENT - I’ll be hosting a powerful online gathering on The Black Madonna: Sacred Wisdom for a World in Crisis with Matthew Fox, Alessandra Belloni, and Christena Cleveland. We will explore the Black Madonna as a symbol of resilience, liberation, sacred feminine wisdom, and healing in a fractured world through conversation, story, music, and spiritual reflection. If you feel drawn toward a deeper encounter with the Divine Feminine and the ancient traditions that continue to nourish movements for justice and wholeness, I hope you’ll join us. Learn more and REGISTER HERE.
October 6, 2026 - 7-8:30pm ET, ONLINE EVENT - Matthew Fox and I are teaming up again to launch a series called Journeying with the Mystics. The mystics have always emerged in times of uncertainty. They appear when old certainties are crumbling, when institutions no longer provide easy answers, and when people find themselves longing for a deeper experience of the Sacred. Join us for an 18-session exploration of the teachings of St. John of the Cross, Thomas Merton, Hildegard of Bingen, Kabir and Rumi, Meister Eckhart and more. This is more than a lecture series. It is an invitation into a living spiritual journey. REGISTRATION COMING SOON!
October 18-21, 2026 - PREACH! 2026 Conference- I’ll be co-hosting PREACH in Minneapolis with Church Anew, a new gathering for preachers, storytellers, worship leaders, and spiritual communicators navigating what it means to speak with clarity, compassion, and courage in a changing world. If you’ve sensed that the preaching moment has changed and are longing for thoughtful community and renewed imagination for this work, I hope you’ll join us.
I drafted a Strategic Framework for Congregations as we move into the coming years of increased authoritarianism around the world. If interested, you can download it here.
Fun Things My Friends Are Up To…
I get to work with such amazing, creative people. This section is my way of celebrating them—no paid promotions, just joy in what they’re creating.
June 29, 2026, 12pm ET - ONLINE WRITING GROUP - My dear friend, Meryl Marshall-Daniels, is leading a writing group open to all. This is a simple and spacious writing circle for people who want time to listen inwardly and put words on the page without overthinking, performing, or polishing. Meryl offers a prompt designed to invite reflection, imagination, and attunement to what is already alive within you. The practice honors writing as a way of listening, of letting images, memories, questions, and insights surface in their own time. Learn more here.
My friends over at Spiritual Wanderlust have some of the coolest classes. One I am particularly drawn to is their Celtic Spirituality School where you get to learn from people like John Philip Newell, Ilia Delio, Carl McColman, Sharon Blackie, and more. Read more about their program.
If you are a leader or member of a congregation looking for consulting support in visioning, planning, hiring or staffing, please consider Convergence.
Thank you, Rev. Cameron. Until now, I had never heard of Wally, but now I'm glad I have. Truly, she walked by faith, not by sight. A similar sentiment is expressed at the end of Middlemarch. George Eliot writes: "That things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life and rest in unvisited tombs."