It’s the end of October! How many other feel like it can’t be possible that the year is nearly over? Over this year, we have journeyed together on this blog through many topics. During Epiphany we considered more deeply the seven practices of the Way of Love introduced by Episcopal Presiding Bishop Michael Curry. Then for Lent, we continued looking at the Way of Love disciplines by studying how they are applied in the Book of Ruth. In the Easter season we looked at ways we might respond to God’s call on our lives. Since the beginning of June, we’ve met several women whose lives are evidence of what happens when we live out the Great Commandment to “love our neighbor as ourselves”. These women changed their world for the better. Whether through teaching, or nursing, or advocating, or writing they impacted their communities.
The world and our lives are always changing. The world of James of Jerusalem, Florence Nightingale, Sojourner Truth, or Teresa of Avila isn’t the world we live in. They each lived in a time and culture that was filled with change and turmoil. (Has there ever been a time when that isn’t true?) In our time, we are made aware of all the changes and challenges because media of many sorts keeps us informed, or perhaps over-informed. It can be unsettling.
We need to be reminded Who is really in control. One way to do that is to pause, look for God, and then to say ‘thank you’. This simple action empowers us to move beyond the negatives and focus on what God is doing in our lives, and around us. Despite the headlines, we can be grateful for the small and large miracles in our daily lives.
I invite you to start now and spend the month of November on a Gratitude Journey. On this blog, I’ll offer a theme for the week, which you can use, or ignore.
This week’s theme is: Nature. As the seasons change you may find many things to ponder on your Gratitude Journey, or mention in your Gratitude Journal.
The Old Testament reading for the Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost, is from Joel. This hymn of joy for the harvest is my first entry on my Journey. Joel call on the people to “be glad and rejoice in the Lord your God; for he has given the early rain for your vindication, he has poured down for you abundant rain, the early and the later rain, as before. The threshing-floors shall be full of grain, the vats shall overflow with wine and oil….You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I, the Lord, am your God…I will pour out my spirit on all flesh…” (Joel 2:23-32)
This citation is praise to the one who reminds Israel, “I, the Lord, am your God.” As we look around us, Nature can inspire us to remember that God is the One who Creates and fills all things. What do you see as you look at Nature this week? Follow me on Facebook where I’ll post something I am grateful for every day (or try to!). Feel free to respond with your own posts of things you are thankful for.
You might want to take a walk outside to see what God is doing in Nature, or look up some of the writings of Hildegard of Bingen. If you need more Biblical inspiration, consider some of these Bible verses: Genesis 1, Psalm 19, Psalm 95, Psalm 104, and many others.
