Gratitude: From You I Receive, To You I Give

Ponderings of the Spiritual Life Director

The most joyful moments for me at UUCL are when I observe all of you finding your passions. Your callings begin to take shape as you create, cooperate, and do the good work of love together. And, did you know as you do this, you are helping our community live our mission? Currently, our mission statement is: uniting in diversity, advocating for love and justice. As we start to reach out to the world and do the work we are called to do, we are finding our purpose. I am thankful that we are finding a deeper purpose to our existence and I am thankful to all of you for making it happen.

This past Sunday, the Social Justice co-chairs and I presented you with a worship service on homelessness- most specifically as we’ve encountered it in Polk County. Afterwards, we received gratitude from many of you for telling our stories and for providing opportunities for getting involved. There is much work to be done in our larger community, and sometimes it’s hard to know where to start. However, the enthusiasm from many of you for being able to immediately help the most impoverished people of Lakeland puts us in a good starting position.

Homelessness is a complicated problem, but I expect that, if we continue this work, we will find specific aspects of it that will provide us with a meaningful way to transform our community.  As we talk to people and dig into the research that’s already been done, we will discover the intersectional aspects of homelessness that relate to other justice issues we aspire to tackle:  racism, immigration, LGBTQ equality, environmental concerns, women’s rights.

Do more than simply keep the promises made in your vow.

Do something more: keep promising.

As time passes, keep promising new things,

deeper things, vaster things, yet unimagined things.

Promises that will be needed to fill the expanses of time and of love.

Keep promising.

– David Blanchard, Reading #108 in “Lifting Our Voices”

You all inspire me to keep working hard and expanding my vision of what’s possible! In return, I give you much gratitude and an abundance of love.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

Heather