Father Paul's Ponderings

 
Fall’s Harvest Time-what do you put in the barn?
 
Even though our local weather hasn’t given us many clues about the change of season yet, there are subtle indicators. In my garden, the sweet grass is blooming purple for the first time since I’ve planted it. I’m hearing the hawk and woodpecker’s calls. The lower sun is casting longer shadows and I’m feeling the usual fall message in my mind-what have you accomplished, what have you created, how have you helped?
 
The answers to these questions are what I put in my spiritual barn to winter over. What is coming, for me, isn’t a time of vibrant growth but of relying on what I already have. As the leaves fall, I reach into that barn and touch those things that have helped me get through the days until Spring. I have grandchildren’s birthdays to celebrate, a trip to anticipate, the familiar holiday routine of Thanksgiving and Christmas, the lights of Epiphany and an early Lent. I have a birthday in March, not a significant one, but I have to admit now they’re all getting significant.
 
I’m not depressed about any of this. While I do feel the time passing, the familiar routine of our shared Christian faith provides the map upon which I hang my own life events and helps me accept it. Our stewardship program also provides an occasion to reflect on all we have received. It’s a time of taking stock and in doing so discovering how blessed we really are. All of us live lives more comfortable than anyone, even kings and queens lived in Bible times. There’s plenty for which to be thankful. That’s a function of harvest time.
 
So then, here’s the question. Just as the TV ad for a credit card asks, “what’s in your wallet” the question for us is what are we putting in the barn for safe keeping, nourishment and preparation for the next season? If you take a few moments each day to think about it, I believe you’ll be surprised of the abundance of gifts all of us have received this year. Thanks be to God.
 
Fr. Paul