Here we are in the last week of October. Halloween is in a week and the holidays will be here shortly. This season can be so exhilarating and so draining; it really behooves us to remain constant in our spiritual practices and even to add a little extra to our usual routines. Christine is traveling today, so I’ll take this opportunity to remind you that you can still sign up for all three virtual retreats, even though the first two are done you get recordings of the first two retreats along with the chance to participate in the third. The final retreat in the series is an Advent Quiet Day on December 9th; you can also register for that retreat alone.
The next week and a half includes All Saints Sunday, All Saints’ Day or Day of the Dead and Halloween. If you’re looking for a practice to make Halloween a more sustainable and green holiday, Christine shared a Halloween practice last week. As we look towards (American) Thanksgiving in about a month, I encourage you to look into the Thanksgiving resources we have compiled over the years.
This week in her Meditation Monday – Life Giving or Life Draining? Christine reflected on discerning what we should say yes to and what we should reject as we enter this upcoming gratitude and Advent Season. I recommend it as a starting place for your own reflections about what sustains you – during the holidays or regular days.
As someone who grew up in Washington state, one of the main apple growing regions of the United States, I was very interested to read Carol Dixon’s post for Apple Day. It reflected on apples from biblical times to recent festivals in England and encouraged me to think about the amazing blessings that are sometimes just sitting on our kitchen counters.
Lilly Lewin followed on a theme last week, gratitude and grief in her
FreeRangeFriday: Gratitude and Grief Practices post. In life, and especially in this time of harvest and of war, it is so important to have practices for both grief and gratitude. Jean Adrianoff shared a particular gratitude practice using photographs in her post A Practical Way to Share the Wonder while The Rev. Elaine Breckenridge encouraged us to share her encounters with woods through poetry, art, and reflection in her post In the Heart of the Forest.
May you have a blessed week,
Melissa for Godspace
Don’t forget we have many Thanksgiving and gratitude resources available. Take some time to explore what we’ve gathered over the years.