Goodness Weekly 11.13.23
“We need much less than we think we need.”
–Maya Angelou
What’s Good
This past Second Saturday we hosted yoga with Krystal who also happens to be one of our amazing Sprouts School teachers. She led a lovely flow class themed around finding balance in our fellowship hall overlooking the chapel courtyard. Afterwards there was Storytime for children with Chelsea and basket weaving with Geraldine. We’re planning to make yoga a regular part of our Second Saturday happenings and hope to have you join us next time.
Camelot Community Christmas
Each year we partner with our friends over at Camelot Elementary to provide affordable Christmas gifts to families at the school. This year this exciting event will take place on our campus Friday, December 8th. (Shop the wishlist here!)
A Message from Mae
By Mae Czarnecki, Sunset Ridge Collective Communications Coordinator & Photographer
As a young photographer, I became captivated with an Australian mother on Instagram who was battling severe depression, Hailey Bartholomew. She is now a director and author, but at the time she was “just a mom with an Instagram” who had two small girls that she loved dearly, and couldn’t show up for as her energetic bubbly self. She started a challenge for herself, “365 Grateful.” No matter where she was, or what equipment she had, she’d take a picture of something each day that brought her joy.
It was beautiful to watch something positive spread so quickly, and eventually, I joined the movement. For years, I took a picture of my daughters–something we did, saw, or ate together–and posted it online for accountability. My journey through this 365 Gratitude visited places I didn’t anticipate. Some days it was the struggle to simply see something good. Other days, my artist critic confronted me with notes about the quality of the images I took. Many months and years down the road, the exhaustion of “creating” these joy-filled, social media worthy images discouraged me from even trying.
Yesterday, during the Kid’s Moment in our church service, Chelsea the family minister asked the kiddos to list some things they were grateful for. Most of the obvious list came up–family, friends, and food. She then asked what are some things they weren’t grateful for, and suddenly a list seemed unending. Those kiddos could still be rattling off small annoyances and world wide issues given the chance.
And here’s the thing, so could I.
One of the most valuable takeaways I got from my time doing this project was the idea of contentment. At first my photo assignment was about recognizing the good things, then about creating the good things, then about turning the bad things into good things (a sort of toxic positivity, if you will.) However, somewhere along the way, the things I once recognized as the most beautiful part of my day, weren’t good enough to be grateful for.
The kitchen needed to be cleaner to enjoy the cookies. The clothes needed to be new to enjoy the rope swing in the yard. The nails needed to be manicured to present the flowers picked in the yard.
My lack of contentment was bringing me back to a place of depression that I had fought so hard to remove myself from.
With Thanksgiving next week, we are entering the Holiday season. So often, creating the joy we long for displayed in advertisements drives us to exhaustion. It is my hope that our contentment with what we have, where we are, and who we’re with, will bring us all the joy and peace we seek from the season.
This Week
Friday, Nov 17th Kid’s Night Out. Please RSVP here.
Sunday, Nov 19th
4:30pm Outdoor Worship
6-7pm Every Season Sacred (open to all parents of school aged children, dinner & childcare provided)
6-7pm Youth Group
Coming Up
CAMPUS OFFICES CLOSED MONDAY, NOV 20TH-24TH
Sunday, Nov 26th
4:30pm Chapel Worship
6-7pm Every Season Sacred (open to all parents of school aged children, dinner & childcare provided)
6-7pm Youth Group
Inhale:
All that is around me
Exhale:
Is exactly what I need
