From the Pastor's Window Recently, I pondered the confronting truth that the Rev. Dr. Watson has more patience than I do. Patience is defined as the power of suffering or persevering with courage and fortitude. If patience is desired in pastoral care, and I think it is, dogs and cats would be the lead pastors and their people would do well to be their shadows. I have watched the Reverend Doctor with our three cats and countless people and I am quite sure that his love of God and creation is unconditional. His style and approach to ministry what I learned at seminary in Evanston, Illinois in the 1970's. The lesson came from those you might expect: professors, students, staff and the least likely of folks on the staff: janitors and housekeepers. Love unconditional and universal to all creatures great and to all creatures small is what I learned from kith and kin, at Mother's side and on Father's knee. However what they said and what they did was not always one and the same. There's the rub! Where people are more inconsistent and particular, animals and young children are more consistent in practicing love and acceptance, openness and kindness. Love is what makes the world go round, and what Jesus taught in life and at death. Christ at the Last Supper and Christ on the Cross, before, after and during, Christ's Resurrection centers on love, faith, and hope available to all who will…love God and creation with all one's being. Easier said than done, this love walk from birth to death, but not impossible if we but give it a try, this love that is the greatest truth of Easter and professed by holy persons of all persuasions. Yet, I must confess Christ's practice of hospitality and forgiveness, compassion and emotional congruence is better practiced by my colleague and friend, Watson a fox terrier. He has made the theology of Tillich, Bonhoeffer and Reuther, the words of Paul and Jesus come to have deeper meaning and real life applications. So I have come to see the deepest love as deeply affirming and embracing of the totality of the other's essential being. Rev. Dr. Watson loves as is without strings or ties, and loves all creatures without preference for race or class. He's a natural at this love stuff and acceptance stuff and the importance of being real. Recently, Watson and I visited six people and to each person, the Reverend & the Doctor Watson was always interested and sincere. A pro at listening and consoling, he made our visits unforgettable. Memorable! Magical! His eyes always kind, he knew instinctively what posture to take and when to wag his tail and when to shake his head in utter empathy, sympathy or amazement or chagrin when his pastoral call required it. Pastoral calls are crucial and Watson knows how to do this with consummate skill and the utmost integrity, and confidentiality. Doggone! Dr. Watson, and other dogs and cats in his league, made God's unsurpassing gift of love look easy! Love like that by those canine and feline pastors make love elementary like air and water; elementary, my dear Watson! Scriptures to ponder: Proverbs 19:11, Romans2: 4, First Timothy 1:16 In Christ, Rev. Judy A. Stanley Picture from http://lilyknotwise.deviantart.com/art/Jack-Russell-Sketch-60764182 Template provided by WEBalley