I believe in death.

I believe that it is part of life.

I believe that we are born to die,

to die that we may live more fully;

born to die a little each day

to selfishness, to pretence, and to sin.

I believe that every time we pass

from one stage of life to another,

something in us dies and something new is born.

I believe we taste death in moments of loneliness,

rejection, sorrow, disappointment, and failure.

I believe that we are dying before our time

when we live in bitterness, in hatred, and in isolation.

I believe that each day we are creating our own death

by the way we live.

For those with faith, death is not extinguishing the light;

it is putting out the lamp because the dawn has come.