September 13,
2013
Dear Friends, My summer got messy – and that was the good part. After a hiatus of about four years, I finally found some time to get back to making pottery. Not that any is completely made through all the stages of firing yet, but I’ve been having fun using my creativity. There is something captivating about the way the clay moves in your hands as the wheel turns. It is messy work, but perhaps letting go of the need to be neat and perfect is part of the attraction for me. I’m no professional, but the more I do, the more I can see my skills improving, and most importantly, it’s fun. I guess I have a need to balance my time between things where results really matter, and things where the pleasure lies in the simple act of doing. Now that we are into the second week of September, and fall routines along with the flurry of a new season of meetings are picking up, I can still feel the creative energy from the pottery-making, and the centredness from time outdoors, and the warm memories of family times. My holidays were right at the end of August, so those uplifting moments were quite recent and will carry me through the round of meetings and catching up that is now well underway. All of us with kids in school feel the first week of September as a time of new beginnings, and of “schedule shock” as the household realigns to stricter routines. In fact, it is a feeling that never quite goes away after school years are done. This is especially true in the church world, where there is a blessed paucity of meetings over the summer and an instant shift back to full agendas come September. I suspect that everyone feels some mix of reluctance to settle back into things, and pleasure at reconnecting with colleagues and returning to the fulfilling work that we are called to in the church. Even as we are occupied with the expected seasonal transitions, we are confronted by news of people in other parts of the world for whom the regular patterns of life have been violently disrupted. At this time, I’m thinking particularly of the people of Syria, both those remaining in their war-torn country and those who have fled to overflowing refugee camps. May our prayers and gifts support them in this time of crisis. Peace be with you. Nora |
