Our annual Grateful Heart event is just around the corner!
We gather as a church every year for good food and good company, and to be reminded of all we have to be grateful for. But what first comes to mind when you hear the word gratitude? Maybe your mind’s eye sees flowers, trees, and green everywhere slowly showing signs of autumn’s pull, and you rest in the memories of summer. Perhaps you think of time spent around the table with family, a close friend you’ve lost, or a lesson hard-learned. Or if you’re like me, the word may have become like many others we sling around today—unhelpful for its overfamiliarity.
We want to take the time each year to reflect on what has filled us up, moved us, changed our way of looking at the world and our place in it. Anticipating Thanksgiving, we want to ease up on the reins a bit and breathe in the gifts we’re surrounded by. And not just so that we can name a couple things by rote we’re grateful for, but so that we can truly appreciate those things which have marked us, and brought us to where we are today; or perhaps those things which are moving us from where we have been.
The Arts Group at Woodland extends a warm invitation to you this season:
Think back on those things which have catapulted you into your present and sent you sailing for your future, and choose to love them. Consider your joys and griefs alike, and consider as well the graces standing just outside their periphery. Dwell on those things which have cultivated—or may yet prove to cultivate—a great, full heart in you. Think on these things, and then send them to us in an art form that resonates with you, using the link below.* We hope together with you to nourish our community with these reflections.
Thank you for partnering with us in this meaningful work!
*All submissions will be considered for inclusion in our Grateful Heart companion publication, and accepted submissions will be eligible for live display at the event.
