Barnaby was like a mood, a fragrance of the harmonious inner life, permeating everything with which he came into contact. He knew sorrow and he knew joy, and he held them in a delicate balance of serenity and peace. He knew how to respond equally joyfully to an invitation to walk or talk or sit together, which seems to me to be a particular kind of training in grace -- a willingness to respond easily and happily to even the most modest adventure together. Perhaps it could be said that within his framework of being a dog, he lived life as a spiritual exercise.
Increasingly, my intention is to make each day of a living prayer. I am finding that to go out of the darkness into light, I have only to be a little more kind, a little more gentle and loving to those around me, and to myself. It has been in showing love to myself that I have had the greatest difficulty. The simplicity of choosing to live a life of love, rather than a life of fear, is more clearly becoming a reality for me. The power of simply remembering God, and remembering that my true identity is love, has been beyond anything I could have imagined. Let us all join in love, and know that in sharing the thoughts of love and peace with one another we bring the miracle of light into the world.