This morning in our Friday Morning Prayer and Practices group on Zoom we talked about trust. It seemed our prayers gravitated toward that wonderful need experienced by each of us differently. To nurture the spirit of trust that is attached to God alone…our true self…children of God who loves us and cares for us.

As I was praying later after the meeting my sister texted with the latest update on her husband. His breathing was more shallow. Then 2 minutes later, he died peacefully. His walk that is this life is over. Don’t be afraid of change. Isn’t change exactly what we all experience? We are conceived and cells divide at such an amazing and rapid pace that after only 9 months a child is ready to leave the safety and nourishment of the womb and the growth continues. We grow and change as all life must – and then just as inevitably as new growth, we change toward that time when life slows, bodies age, and then, that wonderful heart grown in the womb beats no more, breathing stops. Life is change. Death is not the end of life but the next change we will each of us experience.

If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. John 14:23. And what is His teaching? Love. Loving God is obeying His teaching and in His love we love others. Father, Son, Spirit love us and make their home with us and when our time on this earth is finished in this life we are already Home in our Father, Savior, Comforter.

To nurture the spirit of trust…let go. My brother-in-law’s body let go and now he is with our God who loves him dearly and Whom he loved. My body is getting older and maybe that’s why I ponder these things differently. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. John 12:23-24. Maybe that’s why we need to die to this life and why our experiences all are change and growth and opportunity to love more deeply with compassion and understanding for the needs of others and for our need for God to help us realizing He is the only One who can.

Reading our chapter, 1 Chronicles 18, and learning of my brother-in-law’s death how can I help but think of the way of David and of all of us. We are humanity together. We experience birth, life and death and every experience that forms us uniquely. Life is change. Life is opportunity. Life is blessing. One part of our life ends that our life with God into eternity can begin. One day we will all of us be together with God – Father, Son, Spirit – angels, archangels and there will be no more tears or sorrow because we will be together forever. Thank You, Lord, for being with us now and making your home with us now. With You here and now, we are experiencing trust as You walk along side of us comforting us and expanding our reach. You are helping us grow.