As we enter November and enter the holiday season, the familiar feelings of gratitude and charity embrace our hearts and minds. Yet despite our feelings of gratitude, this time of year can also stand to remind us of what we lack and wish we had. It is such a joyous season, offering opportunities for us to outwardly see the goodness that still survives in our local and national communities. Charitable giving of time, money, household necessities, and even dreamed-of frivolities becomes the usual this time of year. Soup kitchens are blessed with additional supplies and volunteers, efforts to hand out…

As we step further into October and all hopes of an extended summer that September sometimes holds fastly falls behind us, I find myself ready to curl up on my couch with a warm cup of tea and read a good book. I am ready to sink into fall, to embrace that feeling of cozy that falling leaves brings to our doorsteps. But as I sit on my couch, I can’t help but find myself lacking the cozy feeling. Enter Fall The whirlwind of summer kept me busy just enough to not worry extensively about the long term future — thoughts instead tended…