08/27/2026
After the news of Dolly Parton’s passing yesterday, I’ve had some time to contemplate life, and the world around me.
Dolly was an unbelievable light in this world.
In a world that seems increasingly consumed by hatred and division—where the color of your skin, your political views, your sexual orientation, or your religious beliefs can somehow become reasons for people to turn against one another—Dolly chose something different.
She chose love.
Dolly was a woman of deep faith. She believed in Christ as her Lord and Savior, but what always stood out to me was the way she lived that faith. She didn’t use her faith as a weapon against people. She used it as a reason to love them.
She understood that being blessed came with a responsibility to bless others.
And she did.
She gave away millions of dollars to help people she would never meet. Through her Imagination Library, she put books into the hands of millions upon millions of children, giving them something far more valuable than a book—a chance to dream, to learn, and to imagine a life bigger than the circumstances they were born into.
But perhaps Dolly’s greatest gift wasn’t her money, her music, or even her incredible talent.
It was the way she made people feel.
She made people feel welcome.
She made people laugh.
She made people believe that it was okay to be exactly who they were.
And somehow, despite becoming one of the most successful entertainers in the world, she never seemed to forget where she came from. She carried the mountains of East Tennessee with her wherever she went.
She could have allowed fame to make her feel bigger than everyone else.
Instead, it seemed to make her want to lift everyone else higher.
Dolly once said, “The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.”
Maybe that is part of the lesson she leaves us.
We are all going to experience rain. We are all going to experience loss, disappointment, heartache and difficult seasons. But what we choose to do with those experiences matters.
Dolly chose to create rainbows.
She chose kindness when cruelty would have been easier.
She chose generosity when she could have simply kept what she earned.
She chose laughter when the world gave her reasons to cry.
She chose to bring people together when so many others were busy finding reasons to separate them.
And perhaps most importantly, she chose to love people without first asking whether they deserved her love.
That is a legacy far greater than a record, an award, a movie, or a song.
Dolly Parton leaves behind music that will be sung for generations. She leaves behind stories that will make us laugh and cry. She leaves behind businesses, institutions and countless charitable works that will continue long after she is gone.
But I hope her greatest legacy is something much simpler.
I hope we remember how she treated people.
I hope we remember that success doesn’t have to make us arrogant.
That faith doesn’t have to make us judgmental.
That wealth doesn’t have to make us selfish.
That being different doesn’t make someone less worthy of love.
And that we can disagree with someone without hating them.
Dolly spent her life reminding us that there is still goodness in this world.
Now it’s our turn to carry that goodness forward.
I pray that we learn to love one another as strongly as Dolly loved the world.
I pray that we learn to give more than we take, forgive more than we condemn, and lift people up instead of tearing them down.
And when the rain comes—as it inevitably will—I hope we remember Dolly’s words and look for the rainbow.
Rest easy, Dolly.
You gave this world so much beauty.
You gave us laughter, music, hope, faith, generosity and love.
And somehow, the world feels a little darker without you in it.
But because of the life you lived, there are millions of little lights scattered all across this world that are still shining.
And I believe that’s exactly how you would have wanted it.
May your music play forever, and may your light never fade.
