Gathering Home

By Rev. Sandra Gaskin

   “As we grow as unique persons, we learn to respect the uniqueness of others.”              __Robert Schuller

   Comes the autumn… the shorter days and longer nights… the chilly mornings… the changing colors of the falling leaves. And we find ourselves ‘gathering’. Bringing together our end-of-the-year projects. Calling our children in at an early dusk, ‘gathering’ them to the safety of hearth and home. Collecting and gathering our thoughts and plans for the busy holiday season.  Congregating, ‘gathering’ in our places of worship for blessings of the seasonal celebrations. Stockpiling the fruits of our gardens for consumption during the coming winter. This is the pervasive feeling I garner from autumn… we gather together.

   I am counting the days until this Thanksgiving, when family will once again travel across the country to be together. We will laugh & hug & cry & tell ‘tales’ on each other. We will eat too much, exercise too little, and spoil our children. We will recount Thanksgivings past, lean years as well as bountiful. We will share individual life events of this past year, make plans for the nebulous future… but mostly, we will just Be with one another. Communing like minds. And I so treasure those times!

   At the beginning of this season of gratitude and Thanksgiving, may we at the Spirit-Works family wish you and yours well. We wish you abundance and balance and Joy that permeates every part of your lives. Do take the time to simply Be with friends, family, and especially with yourself. ‘Gather’ peace, love, joy and understanding unto yourselves. For all of this, we give thanks.

“Celebrate the happiness that friends are always giving, make everyday a holiday and celebrate just living.”    __Amanda Bradley