When many retailers took down their Halloween decorations on November 1, they immediately put Christmas trees up, hung the garland and lights, and encouraged us to buy, buy, buy. In the retail world it’s been Christmas since Halloween. In the Church, we say “not so fast”, as we take our time getting to Christmas by way of the 4 Sundays of Advent. The older I get, the more I appreciate this time of slowing down that the Church offers to contrast the hurry of the holiday season

t’s hard to believe that Thanksgiving is almost here once again. It is the time of year when we take time to be grateful for our many blessings. I’ve become particularly grateful each morning as I drive around Caraway Mountain on the way to Archdale from my house in Asheboro. I get the joy of seeing the vibrancy of fall in all its glory. There is something about the way the morning sun hits the trees that says, “look at us!” that urges me to pay attention, to be present in the moment, and to be thankful for what is happening right now.

God Doing a New Thing…Most of us grew up hearing the saying that the only thing certain in life is death and taxes, which was originally attributed to Benjamin Franklin as he wrote to a friend about the new Constitution of the United States of America. I don’t know if Franklin was 100% right about that, but the saying taught us to expect change as a part of life.