That One Final Effort of Love

Great Smoky Mountains

No one wants to feel guilty, and sometimes we go to great lengths to avoid this feeling. It is awesome to contemplate what has transpired in human history on a societal as well as an individual basis due in part if not in whole to this driving motivation. We can at times find ourselves in a situation where we simply must act – feeling that even if in the end we are not successful, we will have done the very best that we can, and thus by making such an effort can live with ourselves. How many times has this one last best effort been the decisive one that has changed the course of events? Often the fuel for this drive to do one's best is love. Nowhere is the efficacy of love more clearly demonstrated than in these situations where tragedy is at times averted by sheer effort, determination, faith, and luck (presuming chance had anything to do with it).

Today we received great news. An e-mail arrived at work from our coworker, Joe. Several weeks ago he and his wife Jenna traveled to the North Carolina mountains for a vacation. They took with them their pets, including Shadow – a small black dog. Somehow the dog got lost in the mountains and Joe and wife had to return home to St. Petersburg without her. This past weekend in one last great effort to do their best to find her, they returned to North Carolina. They searched again without success and were preparing to leave for home when they got a call from someone who had seen their posted flyer. The caller said that a little black dog had been on their back porch for four days. Joe and Jenna immediately traveled the 3 miles and 400 foot incline to the caller's residence. There on the porch was Shadow – smaller now, having lost much weight in her ordeal. On hearing the good news that Shadow had been found, we rejoiced in St. Petersburg as well.

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