Dear Friends ~ This season of Thanksgiving sings with resonance in my soul. I am grateful to live in an intentional community where we all have our tasks and teams to keep things running smoothly. I'm on the garden team, blessed to come together with others to plant, water, weed, and—indeed—harvest both bounty and beauty.
On the personal front, I'm deeply grateful to have weathered major surgery which brought a short halt to my gardening. But it was an experience that offered more opportunities to practice gratitude as my husband took over the cooking, as well as the watering of our home garden, along with his own tasks. Now it is autumn, and I am back to the garden—ever more grateful for the bounty of the earth, the love of family and friends, and the joy that comes with harvest.
As our family gathers for a Thanksgiving feast, I hope the grandchildren will humor me while we all sing: "Oh, the Lord is good to me, and so I thank the Lord for giving me the things I need, the sun and the rain and the apple seed. The Lord is good to me."
And to you, dear readers, hold close to loved ones, pray for the world, give and breathe gratitude. Carry the spirit of thanksgiving with greetings to those you meet. Cross paths of thankfulness. May we harvest a brighter world. ~ Mary Ann
Within this life we live and have our being; this is the power, the wisdom and the love in which we are encompassed. And yet bodily we remain in shadow because we are clothed in the darkness of the earth. But no one need ever remain a prisoner; it only requires the will to aspire and so to know the wisdom of the divine -- and the prisoner is free! And so we ascend in spirit, and being raised, we then step forth into a life heavenly in its beauty and are encompassed by a heavenly concourse... We may become conscious of music -- delicate, gentle, sweet music beyond all description -- which may swell in grand crescendo to embrace the great universal music of all creation. And we know that we are part of this grand orchestra.