There is a reason, don’t you know, why most churches traditionally run their stewardship campaigns sometime near Thanksgiving, and that reason is probably obvious to you:  The approach of Thanksgiving reminds us to be grateful for our blessings.

     We’ve been studying Adam Hamilton’s book “Enough” in our adult Sunday School class.  Very good book.  (Adam Hamilton is a United Methodist, pastor of the 12,000 member Church of the Resurrection in Kansas City, MO.)  He makes a number of important, even profound points in the book and among them are these:

        I was shocked the other morning, Margaret and I taking our terrier for her early morning  walk, to notice a large maple tree half-turned a glorious red-orange, looking for all the world almost to be on fire.   

     Nothing unusual about that, you’re thinking – and you’re right. The color comes every fall and it is stupendous and wonderful – but hardly a surprise. It just goes to show where my mind was – or rather where it wasn’t:  Fall seems to have snuck up when I wasn’t looking.  (After a long, rather slow-paced summer, September came with a roar of activity, everything happening at once, and I’ve been preoccupied with many, many things.)