Ready, Set, Go!
There is no longer a time buffer between talking about being a parish and
actually living into parish life. Fall is just around the corner--and maybe it is just
me, but already the morning air feels a lot like fall. Now no one in their right mind
would want to shorten the summers up here in the Northland. Still, it just feels
like autumn is speeding towards us like a freight train.
Life is filled with seasons. There are seasons in nature and there are
seasons in life. My children are not very appreciative of the season I seem to be
entering in life. It is the season of the aging body. No one gets to be a stranger to
that season. It’s the aches and pains that seem to accumulate over a life time.
Then they hit you all at once making you suddenly aware of all the less than
healthy ways you have treated your body when you were younger. Still, we are
given an opportunity to play a bit of a mulligan with our health by just treating
our bodies with a bit more respect and a bit more care.
Fall makeover is this time in the calendar year when we move from summer
to fall and there are all sorts of changes that we need to make. But, it’s good! It’s
healthy! It is also very necessary. My son Kyle started trimming the perennial
plants around our house yesterday. I’m hoping to coat the blacktop in front of my
garage to protect it for winter.
The church is also getting ready for a busy fall. Sunday School is soon to be
starting in both Family of God and Kenwood. We are going to have to make
decisions about Adult Bible Study and a host of other things. The most important
of those decisions is to prepare and to be patient and kind. As this fall makeover
takes place, we all know that change is hard. We may not look the same or move
as quickly as we once did. We will have a few aches and pains to deal with. But
listen, it is all good. With age and changing seasons comes wisdom.
The makeover is hard, we feel the wind of it first, and the chill of it surprises us. We
will survive! We will do good ministry together and we will trim and prune and
wrap up and protect so that come spring there will be new growth and roots deep
in the soil of God’s grace. I invite you to check out the fall colors with me. To
appreciate the makeover that is here for us to enjoy.
Blessings in Christ,
Pastor Jeffrey Holter
(Your Fall Guide in Christ)