Sitting by her Pinocchio lamp, she smiled at me as her tiny shadow puppet danced on the bedroom wall. "A bunny!" she giggled with all the jubilance of a four-year old. Her blue eyes sparkled with pride as she showed me the animated image she had created.

"Daddy, will you show me how to make a tiger?" she asked. "Sure," I said, "and then we'll read a story and tell your angels goodnight." To my youngest daughter, that meant her bedtime prayer.

Today my daughter is seven, and I no longer get to read the story. She reads it to me, complete with expressive accents for the story characters.

To say I'm proud of our relationship would be an understatement. We have shared days of joy as well as tragedy. Our time together has strengthened the bond of love and special "life stuff" that is all our own.

I am richer for having nurtured the spirit of trust in this gentle little person; we have grown together spiritually, learning much from each other. The special times we spend together, like nights by a Pinocchio lamp, create memories that we will treasure for the rest of our lives.

So it is with all of our relationships. The trust factor is vital for relationships to thrive. In time, our "life stuff", different for each of us, either bonds into gold or scatters among misplaced priorities.

Think of one of your fondest memories, and you will no doubt find a remarkable relationship at its center one with a spiritual quality that shines outward from the heart.

Time together, caring acts, and unconditional love build trust. I suggest that we each spend ample time with our personal "Pinocchio lamps" those special ways that we choose to nurture our relationships.

Relationships take time to nurture and maintain. It is not always easy, but the results are priceless. "Nights by a Pinocchio lamp", wherever those might be for you, will create enduring bonds of golden "life stuff", spiritual gifts that no one can take away.