<Generations come and generations go,
but the earth remains forever.
 
The sun rises and the sun sets,
and hurries back to where it rises.
 
The wind blows to the south
and turns to the north;
round and round it goes,
ever returning on its course.
 
All streams flow into the sea,
yet the sea is never full.
To the place the streams come from,
there they return again.
Ecclesiastes 1:4-7 NIV

Bittersweet occasions, such as reunions, roil the emotions. After more years than I care to count, I attended a gathering of members of my 8th grade class. None of us chose our birthplace or where we grew up, but the pull to return felt as strong as the tide swaying the seas. This group of students matured and scattered widely, following various career paths and lifestyles. After gazing at each other in amazement, studying the thinning, graying hair, expanding waistlines, and incipient wrinkles, we began to get to know each other anew, and the years fell away. The noise level rose, and the sense of comfort and belonging descended.
 
Middle aged people recalled the insecurities, rivalries, and hurt feelings of youth. We gasped at learning that one of our peers, a brilliant, popular cheerleader took her own life decades ago. The class beauty, still strikingly attractive, told of struggles with alcohol, and depression, then described her ongoing 20-year divorce battle. Thinking of the envy this young girl had inspired, I was amazed at the emotions she called forth, and contemplated the effects of perspective.
 
After the winds and streams influencing each life story move and change us, we can find ourselves both battered and polished to a glowing patina. The infusion of life experience alters our courses and personae, though the sea of the soul never completely fills. The sun rises and sets on all that lives, but the earth remains forever. None of us know the position the sun currently occupies in our personal trajectory. Personally, I'm thankful for the time given me, and the chance to look back to ascertain my source again after many wind blown years.

On what has now been sown
Thy blessing, Lord, bestow;
The power is Thine alone
To make it spring and grow. Amen.

Contributed by Carol
Sunday August 8, 2010
Liturgical Year C Week 37
Sunday Gospel reading:
Lectionary 19 (Proper 14)
Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost