This is my favorite time of year. It is autumn, or Fall, as we say, in the southern USA. For those of us in Alabama, it means the beginning of a new school year. It can also mean that we begin to prepare ourselves for the coming winter. Some people prepare with an annual cleaning this time of year. I cannot contemplate cleaning without first thinking about the basement, and then the attic.

As I look at the vast quantity of stored items; items that belonged to different generations, I don't know whether to cringe or to cry. Sometimes I do both. We have "gathered" what is now gathering dust. It's as if we were squirrels preparing for the winter, saving all those acorns and stashing them in a safe place for the future. However, I think that we just needed a holding tank for everything that came our way. Things got out of hand somewhere along the line...

I do not look at all that "stuff" with gratitude. I have not been grateful for the memories that live there, nor for the beginnings that lie hidden in the depths. I have not looked at the real value of this collection: this harvest of lifetimes. I am such a sentimental person that it would take me forever to clean out everything. It is my tendency to find the stories in every small item, and to sense the love that belonged there. It is difficult for me to throw away someone's memories. Because of this, what one person could accomplish in one or two days would take me several weeks. I "dawdle" as we would say in the South.

Instead of seeing this monumental task as offering resources for others (especially adult children), I have seen only the amount of work that it will take to clean out, share, and organize. This is just the basement/playroom. I can't even begin to think about the attic! And it's not as if I don't have help. My husband is far better at cleaning and organizing than I could ever be. My feeble efforts are pale in comparison.

Perhaps that is part and parcel of my dilemma. I have spent too much time with different aspects of "gathering" ( "wool-gathering," "a rolling stone…," "gather ye rosebuds while ye may,") and have wasted valuable mental energy on just thinking about the stuff. I have not spent nearly enough time in the actual doing thereof or in appreciation for the gifts that have been given to me every day. I have not seen the treasures hidden behind all of the work. Nor have I realized their value to me and to others once that task has been completed. It's difficult to see the beauty underneath the beast. Prescription for Janine: less thinking more doing!

I am slowly learning to be more grateful for everything that has been gathered for and given to me. These are all gifts from God as well as from precious friends and family. Gifts bring delight when used and shared. They should fill our hearts with gratitude. Gratitude kindles love. We ought to glory in the exploration and housecleaning of ourselves, our "basements" and "attics" so that those many gifts can surface and be used for God's purpose. Sometimes we have just forgotten to look.

This issue of EcuMiniNet™ Online! wonders about this. What does "Gathering" and "Gratitude" mean to each one of us? What do we appreciate? For what are we most grateful? What do we think of when we think of harvesting, or collecting, or gathering? Where is Jesus' love-in-our-hearts when we are harvesting our gratitude?

I pray for the grace of God to touch our lives. I pray that we learn to trust that Holy Spirit energy to ignite us for our mission in life, to search beyond the stuff to the hidden treasures of the heart. It is harvest. It is time to gather, but most of all, it is time to share.

<<Back to Archive

View for Printing

Contributors
Staff
Advertising
Internships

Send this Page to a Friend

Add Me to Mailing List