Minister’s Minute

Dear Ones,

October was a spectacular month. The “Feast of Trees” I call it, because the kaleidoscope of color and snap of the air feeds my soul and sets my spirit humming.  Fall in New England is the answer to the question I ask in the dead of winter, and the steam of summer, “Why do I live in a place with weather like this?”  It’s the time of year when I am most aware of God’s fingerprints marking the natural world, and of God’s unbelievable imagination and creativity.  Which of us would have made the death of leaves so joyful and exuberant?

Recently, as I watched the wind swish the leaves into their dance, I thought how blessed we are by God.  Life is such a miraculous gift!  It is such an overwhelming, awesome, and mysterious thing to be breathing; yet how easily we squander our days and our happiness in the pursuit of things that will never feed our souls, or set our spirits humming in the long run.  How quick we are to flit from one thing to another, to acquire “things,” and to worry about maintaining those things and not our prayer and worship life.  Check this out in your own life; how many times did you thank God last week?

It’s a curious thing that we mark one day on our calendar’s and call it Thanksgiving Day.  It’s great we have the day as the wonderful

reminder that God has provided all we need to live our lives. But, what if instead of celebrating one day of thanksgiving, we honored God every day with thanksLiving?  What if every day we set aside time to thank God for everything...and I mean the good, the bad, and the truly awful.  What if we started everyday with a prayer of gratitude, and consciously asked God to direct our lives, our service, our ministry, and our giving?  What if each one of us made the commitment to pray every day, for one year, for peace, say in Iraq?  What if we trusted what we say we believe about the love of God making miracles in the world, in our church, in our own lives, through the power of prayer?

Here’s an invitation.  Every one of you reading this newsletter is invited to participate in a THANKSLIVING PRAYER PROJECT.  It’s not for the faint of heart, but for those who want to transform their faith, spirit, service, giving, daily life, and the world, through thanksgiving and prayer offered on a daily basis.  Simply make two commitments and keep them for one month.  The first is to make a gratitude list every day.  List all the people and things for which you are grateful and list at least 25 items.  Each day name another 25.

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