Update from Suzanne in the September 2022 Branch
This month has been a month of cleaning things up. I'm writing this after a long day spent with a lovely group of people from our congregation who helped to pull everything out of the garage so we could sort, clean and reorganize what we had in there. It was a time to take an inventory of what we had, what we still needed, and what we felt had served its purpose well enough and could be moved onto greener pastures. I've been doing this at home too. Attempting to simplify what we have there in the hopes of decluttering my house and my life and keeping only the things that really are needed or matter most to us. Most of what we are dealing with are material things. How many coffee mugs does one really need (especially when you always use the same favorite one day in and day out)? Will you ever really get back down to the size half the clothes in your closet are, and if you did,
would you still want to wear those clothes or go buy something a little more trendy?? Isn't there somebody else that could make better use of the excess of bath towels you seem to have accumulated rather than letting your linen closet overflow. But as I do this, I realize that my life in general could use some decluttering as well.
The start of the school year is always a favorite time for me. I'm a geek by nature. I always loved school, school supply shopping, writing on all my new folders and trying to organize my day from the beginning to set myself up for success. I never fully accomplished the success I ever hoped for, but I managed to survive and do decently each year. It's not different now, I still enjoy all those things and I still take stock of what I have and what I need to be successful. I actually started a new role in my full-time job this past week, so I am having to learn new programs and new ways of organizing myself that I've never done before. I can see I have lots of things going on and that there are certain areas where I may need to plan my days a little better in order to finish all that I'd like to accomplish.
I think God wants us to take stock in our spiritual lives as well. As we approach fall, it is a great time to set new goals for what we want to accomplish in our faith life. Maybe we need to set aside a few minutes each morning for prayer, or a devotional. Maybe we need to re-prioritize what we do on Sunday morning. Is it time I started getting myself up early again to get to church and take part in worshipping in-person? Have my kids been missing something in these last two years with Covid keeping us so separated? Is it time to dive back into making my faith a priority in my life and my family's? I know I am lacking in a few areas here, and as I try to organize my priorities, I hope you will stop and do the same. Where can you connect better with your faith? What things can you start modeling for your kids again to show them how important faith is?
We are looking forward to bringing back the much needed connection of kids to their faith and faith family here at Christ Lutheran. We will be starting Sunday School within the next month for kids up to the 6th grade. We are excited to start our Confirmation classes again with kids in grades 7 and 8 as well as welcoming any kids who had their instruction either cut off early or never started because of Covid. And I'm looking forward to planning some fun events to build those relationships between the youth in our church as well as reaching out to the community to help serve them and share God's love with others. It's time to clear out the things that are cluttering up our lives and start reorganizing to make our time in our community of faith a priority we don't overlook.
Blessings,
Suzanne