Marilyn's Musings
October 20, 2026
I hope most of you were able to attend church on Sunday, either in person or virtually, to enjoy the service and the blessing of the animals. The animals were so good. Once they settled down and found their place to cuddle with their families, they were great. It was like they knew the service was about them. The hymns were perfect and we all enjoyed singing them. Pastor Debbie reminded us how much God loves all creatures, even our pets. I don’t have a pet now, but in the time we have been married we have had 3 dogs and 5 cats (not all at once!) I grew up with cats and my husband had dogs so we compromised and had both. I miss the comfort and unconditional love they give you, so who knows I may get another one someday.
I loved the end of the service when Pastor invited the pets to come up and be blessed. It was a special time for the pet owners to know their beloved pets were blessed and God would be watching over them (we all know He already was).
As the days are getting cooler and the nights getting colder, we know fall is here. I don’t mind the cold weather but I think I am among the few people who do. I would rather have the cold than the heat and humidity of the summer months. The colors are beautiful outside both seasons.
I am sitting here looking out the window enjoying the sun. We painted our dining room and moved some furniture around and I have a new desk that is in between two windows. It’s nice and bright and cheerful.
I worked at the Thrift Shoppe this morning for a little while to get organized. My daughter came down on Saturday and worked on the Holiday Room with me. We have so many donations that we will have no trouble filling both the Christmas Room and the Annex with Christmas Joy. I’m sure our customers and friends that come shopping will enjoy themselves. We still have Thanksgiving themed items for sale in our Holiday Room. I feel that sometimes right after Halloween some people go right into Christmas and think of Thanksgiving as a day for football and food. I will admit to playing Christmas music early (sometimes before Halloween) because it makes me happy. But……. I have my favorite Thanksgiving hymns too that I sing. I love using music and singing to worship God. One of the ones I love to sing is “We Gather Together”. When I think of “we” I think of our church family, our home family and every other family we have at Old North including our Food Pantry family, Thrift Shoppe family and our Consistory family. If I left anyone out, please forgive me and add it to the families we are thankful for. Of course, Pastor Debbie is in all of our families.
It is not too early to sing “We Gather Together” as we do gather every Sunday to celebrate that we can worship together and hear God’s word from Pastor Debbie.
“We Gather Together”
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=ahjZhZygvOY&si=Njl_e4AwI6gThhg4
