What helps me to understand fairness this morning is reflecting on life and death. A dear friend's mother is making the transition to the life beyond this one, winging her way to worlds unknown. As she makes this journey, her loved ones are weeping as they imagine a world without her, one which they have not had to contemplate or experience, until now. It struck me how no matter who we are, what we have achieved or amassed, we all experience the death of our loved ones. It is a universal phenomena, one that is a part of life here on earth. None of us is immune from its effects. God treats us fairly in this respect, yet we turn toward one another and see only differences. We are blind to the truth that beyond how we may appear to one another we all experience exactly the same things because we are all human beings. How do we look beyond the confines of our own lives and open them up to see and invite others in? How do we extend friendship to quarters previously unexplored and extend our sphere of influence to everyone? These are lofty ideals and they percolated to the surface of my mind after saying dawn prayers with friends this morning. I had this sense of urgency come up and a real palpable feeling that we are wasting precious time in dwelling on the things that separate us when we could live to our fullest potential by acknowledging that which binds us all. This pandemic has leveled the playing field, will we heed its message?
Yes!