All year long I have observed the woods as they have steadfastly taught and reminded me of life, growth, transition and change. I know that you, too, have reflected on these lessons from our "little brown church in the wildwoods." How fortunate we are to have such grand and glorious teachers all about us!

It is hard for me to write this final column of my Internship year, just as it's been hard for me to attend the final choir performance, the final meeting of my Internship Committee, the final Board meeting (yes, it's true!), and every other "final" event of this year. It has been a remarkable year in every best sense of the word, and the finality of any wonderfully remarkable time is flush with sadness.

But it is with a gladness, of sorts, that I suffer this sad parting, for you all have given me so much, all of which goes with me, all of which has become a part of who I am and what I am about. So though I leave you, you do not leave me, you who have helped shape and form me and my ministry all throughout this inconceivably short year.

It would be an impossible task for me to parse out particular individuals upon whom to especially lavish my gratitude. You all have given me so much, and I can only hope you each somehow know how and where you have particularly touched my life.

They say it takes a village. Thanks, thanks, thanks, for being my village!

With Love – Beth Lefever, Student Minister