By Angelica Maulucci, California
Everyone who knows me knows I loved my pet fish Rey. I bought him filtered water and made sure he had exposure to sunlight. I even brought him with me in the car when I went to Cape Cod and drove to western Massachusetts for long weekends. Friends joked that of course this would happen when you give a social worker a fish.
By Jonker Tomasoa, The Netherlands
Years ago, my wife and I paid a visit to a dear friend and her family in Kenya. It was our first time in that country. When my friend married four years earlier, I was her best man. Although we are not related, she called me Abang, which means brother in the Malay language.
By Dana Lovell, Minnesota
One morning, my friend Karina and I did a spiritual exercise that contains the question, What do you know as truth? (See the Contemplation Seed at the end of this story.)
By Tammy Attama, Virginia
With joyful anticipation, we picked up our new puppy! She was a few months old, gangly, and adorable in the body she had yet to grow into. Our family fussed over her and made her feel welcomed; however, her excitement did not match our own.
By Andrea Canham, Florida
My cats have taught me much about love. An incident with my cat Pandy became a poignant lesson and rich demonstration of the give and take of divine love. He showed me that animals are Souls with their own unique missions and agreements with God.