So, October is in its last 2 and 1/2 hours. It has been good…and it has gone by fast. I began the month meeting two icons of my youth, Jerry Mathers and Tony Dow, Beaver and Wally Cleaver from the television show…Leave It To Beaver. The leaves have finally realized some brilliant color…and the next two months will go more quickly than the last two…if that is possible. Twenty-Twenty One has rushed by with the rapidity of a Weaver’s Shuttle. I have the Covid 19 vaccination and the Pfizer Booster shot…and still do not feel safe from the plague of our time. Our Pandemic has dominated our attention and resources…and lives…for two years. We have yet to witness or understand the permanent changes that this scourge has wrought.

New Normal is vital to our mental health and our survival as a species. The Holiday Season is upon us and we need all of its gifts. The grateful heart of Thanksgiving is less than a month away. MJ is in the middle of planning our Thanksgiving feast and the gathering of our family…that she has been hosting for over 30 years. She loves Thanksgiving! Over our 43 years together our family has enjoyed some wonderful Thanksgiving holidays. Contrary to the days when I was a child and the Thanksgiving holiday was watching the Macys Day Parade on TV. The rest of the day was devoted to planning for Christmas. On Thanksgiving, we gather from our many walks in life and realize that we are much more alike than we are different. We soak up the love from those we are with. We feel the warmth of our shared experiences and know that we really are on the same journey…

This morning at church we had a wonderful woman teach us some deep breathing techniques and some tools for meditation. As she spoke in a soothing and kind manner I thought that we really do often miss the forest for the trees. We live in an ultra-stressful world with mega demands on our time and our talents and our thoughts. We fail to take time for our own physical and mental and emotional needs. We seem to not have the bit of time that we need…to breathe properly. Our stomachs hurt from nervous stress. We have headaches from overloading our brains to continue to perform on the Hamster Wheel of life… We regularly endeavor to change many things that we have no power to change.

Christmas Trees are in order…from now forward… Focus on all that makes our lives bright and cheerful and magical and mystical…should be thought about daily…every day. ‘As a man thinketh…so is he.’ Our thoughts do make a difference in how we perceive the world and how we construct our reality. Our church, First Presbyterian Church, captivated my attention when I saw how well they did Christmas. We began attending near Thanksgiving in 1998. Shortly after that…was Advent and the trimming of the Christmas Tree in the narthex…as soon as I discovered what the narthex was… We attended a Christmas Eve service that began at 11:00P:M:…and concluded at midnight. I swore that I saw Tiny Tim…and Bob Cratchitt.

The observance is magic. Tradition is renewing and recharging and good for the weary soul. We are a bit like the new electric automobiles…we have to re-charge…at points along our journey back home…