The woman heaved her large, arthritic body out of the easy chair. Using her daughter’s supportive arm on the right, and grasping the raised fireplace hearth on the left, she slowly, painfully, lowered herself down, down, down…

To the floor.

To the floor, where she lay down, her body outstretched next to the other body on the floor.

As I watched her white head move nearer to the white muzzle, I felt a Great Stillness come into that room. The noisychatteryclangy world fell utterly silent.

And Time Stood Still.

Out of respect, I think. Out of respect for the profound moment occurring in that room.

I watched two chests rise and fall in unison, The human one shaking with sobs, The canine one with this life’s last breaths.

BUT ALSO

Sitting quietly at their sides, tears streaming down her face, was The Daughter, luminous dark eyes resting lovingly on the dog, then slowly moving over to her mother’s face, where they remained, searching, anxious, her expression sorrowful and infinitely kind…

And looking at the white head with its spikey hair, and watching the aged hand stroke the aged head, and seeing too the beautiful daughter watching them both… I caught my breath and thought

This is who we really are.

This is who we are. Great beings capable of great good.

Yes, we can be petty and small and mean.

BUT ALSO

We can love greatly. And fiercely. And tenderly.

Watching the beloved companions together on the floor, and the quiet daughter watching over both of them, I could imagine God’s Holy Angels leaning over them, leaning down and leaning in, whispering one to the other,

“Ahhhhhhh. And this is why He loves them so much.”

---

The world is uneasy these days, my friends. It is uneasy because we keep forgetting Who We Really Are. And when we forget, everything gets noisychatteryclangy and small and petty and mean.

SO TODAY

Let’s remember Who We Really Are.

We lie on the floor and sob over our pets. We sit with our mothers and cry for their pain. We stop the world and make it quiet for the important things, which so often come dressed up as little things...

We make sacrifices for our loved ones, and on good days, we make sacrifices for strangers, we reach out to the vulnerable to the suffering to the marginalized.

Made in His image, Loved by Him beyond all else, given dominion over everything on His earth --

We are Great Beings capable of Great Good.

Remember this too, my friends:

The way we unleash Who We Really Are is with Great. Love.

For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet.