Giving thanks

I'm really looking forward to the upcoming weekend, hectic though it is shaping up to be. Tomorrow early we're driving to MD, hopefully arriving around noon. Dinner with my aunt, at whose house we spent every Thanksgiving when I was growing up, and my uncle (her brother; they're my late mom's only siblings). I'm wondering how many of my cousins will be there, too. It will be my first Thanksgiving dinner with them in about 30 years.

Back to OH on Saturday, in time to celebrate the feast of Christ, the King on Sunday. It is about our highest "ordinary" feast day, a celebration not quite on the level of Christmas and Easter, but still a really joyful end to the church year; the new one starts with the season of Advent.

Monday it'll be back in the car to head to Rochester, NY, for a three or four day consultation concerning some tools we're considering. We'll see how that goes.

So much to give thanks for, but chiefly I'm appreciating the blessings of God's love, particularly as poured out through family and dear friends.

I Love to Write Day

Well, I suppose I can't let the day go by without at least a few hastily composed words. While there are other commemorative and feast days which I might celebrate more enthusiastically, there are probably few such days whose very name is more true for me!

The word - a gift to open minds -
inflames our passions, shares the heart,
brings hurt or healing, war or peace,
expresses our most secret thought,
provides a means for discrete minds
alien ideas to comprehend,
rejects or welcomes foreigners,
creates enemies, nurtures friends,
isolates or unites neighbors,
hardens or tears down a wall,
casts judgment or embraces souls,
speaks prejudice or hope for all,
terrifies, soothes, rages, comforts,
works, entertains, excites, teaches,
reminds, distracts, enslaves or frees,
hates and loves, disdains and reaches.

It's but a vessel to convey
our very selves to one another.

How apt: the Father spoke the Word
to bring us home in love forever.