October brings a lot of joy for me, mainly because it’s my birth month and people tend to buy me cake, but more importantly because it seems to represent a season of togetherness.
Neighbors open their doors to give candy freely to anyone who knocks.
Family’s reunite around tables and piles of food to give thanks, whether they have little to be thankful for or they have too much to name, they gather.
Church doors seem to open wider, inviting others in. And, carriers of compassion go out, taking their hearts on their sleeves and treasures in their pockets to whoever needs them.
There seems to be an thicker acceptance, a deeper forgiveness, heaping by the bucketful. It’s Christmas.
And then, on January 1st we all get a pass. A chance to start over. To make new habits and to end old ones. To be made new, again.
That’s why I like October, I feel like it’s the great inhale before we journey through the fests and the feasts. The exhale time when the soil of our lives is tilled up and prepared for seed to be scattered and shared.
It’s scary though because we can so easily miss it.
I can miss it.
You can miss it.
All it takes is one hurried moment. Worries can crowd it. Frusrations can suffocate it. That moment that we have…now…is so very precious.
Coy and I watched some videos of our children when we were really little last night. We laughed a lot but there were those my throat is getting tight feelings that say “that moment in your life is over now”. Choke. It really is gone. Just like everyone around me told me that it would be.
They said I would blink.
And they would grow.
I blinked.
And they did.
I don’t want to miss my life.
I’m learning that we can miss the moments of of our lives if we don’t live in the moments.
If we are consumed.
We will miss it.
Emptied.
Present.
Grateful.
Receptive.
This is where we find it.
Life. With others.
Notice the leaves falling (or in Florida, the pine needles gathering).
Marvel at your girl learning to ride her bike instead of wringing your hands in worry that her newfound independence will most definitely will end in fatal disaster.
Hold the new baby (even if it’s not your new baby) a few seconds longer.
Be passionate when it’s time to be passionate. Don’t hold back.
Tell the truth.
Rest well.
Celebrate.
And you will live.
(Psalm 33:12 and 18, 20-21, 22)
The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.
the people he has chosen for his heritage.
But see how the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him,
on those who rely on his love.
he is our help and shield;
our hearts rejoice in him,
we trust in his holy name.
as our hope has rested in you.
The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.
