Another glorious November day happened again, and if it continues on like it is, we’ll be wondering what happened to winter once March arrives. I know we do need the moisture, but let’s hope it’ll be coming as rain instead of snow.
For whatever reason, I ended up sleeping-in for an extra hour, so yours truly had to make haste with getting a few needed items purchased at Hy-Vee before heading to office. I dare say it always ‘feels’ really good when being nearly the only shopper in their store at six in the morning. While there, I found a deeply-discounted in-store special, and managed to grab the last one before their Sunday grocery shopping ‘herd’ arrived.
About all I managed to get done before driving over to St. Paul Lutheran, was heading to my darkened corner to fulfill my Sunday morning contemplative duties. For whatever reason, I was almost completely focused on my prayer chain, and when finished, was somewhat shocked by not having had any passing thoughts take place, which was hopefully a sign I’ve grown even more focused, which is definitely a good thing.
After my prayers were finished, I went to the computer and did a fast-track reading of the online news feeds, and for whatever reason, there wasn’t anything that’d happened these past two days which were remarkable. I did happen to notice in our local obituaries where someone I’d crossed paths with over the years, had passed away, and he just so happened to be the one you’d see with his wife in the downtown on Sunday mornings, picking up trash, so we’ll see if his wife continues to do it. Without a doubt, there’s definitely a great amount of littering being done in our downtown which I’ll never understand as long as I live.
My mother was a fanatic whenever seeing someone throwing things out on our roads and curbsides. Even when we were young, if one of my siblings even threw a gum wrapper out the back window, there’d be some ear-chewing. That’s likely where I came by my zero tolerance for litterers. For me, it’s basically giving Mother Nature and the rest of humanity the middle finger. I can’t even stand seeing people throwing cigarette butts out the windows of their vehicles. Filthy monkeys!
I had a very uplifting experience over at St. Paul Lutheran this morning with their bell choir, along with there being over double the number of attendees. Today’s head-count ended up being 92 which was a record number since I started playing for them. I was delighted when hearing all those voices singing their hearts out while I was playing. Now if they can keep growing their numbers, it’ll no longer end up being another statistic of the many traditional churches which have been closing their doors around the Midwest. For whatever reason, I read a legit article some months ago where the largest number of traditional church closures are taking place in our Mid-western States, which doesn’t make any sense to me. Oh well, perhaps it’s because we have a high percentage of elderly people living in the Midwest.
Before their Service started, one of their members who’s in her early 80’s came up to me and began sharing her anxieties regarding the weekly piano lessons she’s been taking from a retired piano instructor. From what I was told, her instructor insisted she’s doing far better than most, but for some reason, she feels she’s not learning fast enough, so all I could do was encourage her to be patient and continue practicing, along with finding several easy Christmas songs she can learn and share with family and friends. I think all she was needing, was a soulful uplifting from me. I couldn’t help laughing when she added, “My fingers are even aching after I’m finished practicing.” Too funny.
From what I was told, there was a group of people there who belong to another struggling church in our city which will likely be closing its doors before the end of the year, so hopefully they were impressed enough to where they’ll end up becoming members of St. Paul. As chance would have it, a very many years ago, I played that church’s organ, and if my memory serves me, I’m almost certain it’s also a vintage pipe.
When I went downstairs afterwards to say a few words to the Pastor, several of those who were visitors from that other church, mentioned something about not knowing where the piano and organ music was coming from until they were coming back from communion and glancing up into their choir loft. It came as no surprise because their church’s musical instruments are up in its Sanctuary. Those two seemed to like what they were seeing and hearing, so hopefully they’ll have some sway with the others in their group. I figured it was only going to be a matter of time, because just this past winter, their sidewalks weren’t shoveled one particular Sunday morning when I just happened to be driving by.
Once I got back to my car, I happened to look at the clock, and wouldn’t you know, their normal 45 minute Service, ended up being an hour and fifteen minutes long, but for whatever reason, it didn’t seem that extended, and likely because everything was moving quickly. They should be very thankful for having Pastor Jane Harris as their new minister because she gives very good and uplifting sermons, which for me, is the key to keeping attendances up.
My afternoon was filled with getting a very long-overdue chore done at home, and then another three hours spent working over at my little/big project. Each and every day, I thank our Higher Power for giving us these warm and sunny November days.
Tonight’s One-liner is: If you don’t like me, I’m cool with that, but just don’t pretend that you do.
