During the season of Lent, I will be sharing a short post each day as part of the Lent-Photo-a-Day Journey, providing a sort of brief reflection and witness through the journey to and through the cross, to the tomb, and out into the world.

The word designated for March 27th was “Pain.”

Before Allison and I moved into our current home, and back while we were both still students, we went looking for our first pet at the Humane Society. At the time, we were living in a no-pet building, so it was a mute point. But in meeting some friends like Rocky here, we came quite close to being willing to move to a different building.

Rocky was so sweet, and our hearts just felt in pain for him. How could such a great dog not have a home? Within a week we went back to the same shelter, and to our sadness for us but joy for Rocky, found out that he had been recently adopted. Rocky found a home. He would have been a great pup for us, but I think it worked out okay for us. A year later we adopted our cat Buddy (or more like, he adopted us), and we have been our little family unit ever since.

What causes you pain in life? How do you cope and deal with pain? How do you respond to others in pain, and provide care and support to them?