Dear Union Parents,
This last month or so, Union has been hosting Harvest Dinners around the region. Union folks opened their homes to their neighbors and community to share our lives together in gratitude.
I participated (and enjoyed a lovely meal!) at the Harvest Dinner hosted at Peter and Marcia Lyons' home. As our dinner concluded, Peter grabbed his notebook and said, "I wrote a little something that I wanted to share." And I'm so glad he did. I felt like it was a poignant Thanksgiving and gratitude message that left me pondering where I find my provisions and do I trust the Provider.
Harvest Dinner Refections
by Peter Lyons
"Share the joy of the harvest and the gift of community," we are reminded in Exodus 23:16. Part of our deeper faith tradition is to celebrate the Festival of Harvest. We do this by gathering together with and giving thanks for God's abundant provision.
Some of us here get our hands in the soil a little more than others, but none of us relies on farming as directly as the Israelites did in the time of Moses when these festivals were first celebrated. Some of us have seasons in our work, but most of us do nearly the same work all year. This makes it a little harder to see God's abundant provision in our lives since we didn't see a pile of wheat or corn and know we are good for another year. Even if it's harder, it's worth the effort to look back and see how the Lord has taken care of us again and that he is as he's always been: Jehovah Jirah - the Lord our Provider.
As we move into Thanksgiving week, may these words from Peter's pen encourage you to see where God has provided and walks with us as our Provider. I'm so thankful for this community and God's abundant provision for our children and families as we grow together in community. God is always good.
Maybe take some time to ponder...where has God taken care of you and your family this past year?
Matthew 6:25-25 (NIV)
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?"