To have lived life is to have experienced the gamut of emotions.  From successes to failures; from joy beyond belief to grief beyond reckoning.  It is often said that we need the difficult times to recognize when we’ve got it good: perhaps a better reconciliation is to think of life as a quilt.  Patterns, colors, and texture are what make it rich and engaging.  Some of the squares will be smooth and pleasant to touch, others, taken by themselves, are more course, less inviting.  Yet, when we stand back and take in the work as a whole, we are amazed.  We are moved.  We are comforted.  And we come to appreciate that we would not have any other quilt, for we’ve imbued this one with all our passions, all our longings, and with our deepest understandings.  For the tapestry of all humankind, splendid in its diversity of texture and its unity of composition, we give thanks.  Blessed Be, and Amen.