Tuesday, May 27, 2014

From the President


As I write this June letter to us, the congregation of Piedmont UU Church, it is still spring.
Margaret Atwood said In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt”. What did she mean by that? Well maybe she just meant that we should dig in and till, plant and weed our garden. You may have noticed the boxes behind the Meeting House and in those boxes some of us and some others will be digging and planting and weeding. We hope that some of the seeds that we plant will thrive.
On a more abstract level, we have been digging and tilling our collective thoughts for more than a year to plan our vision for the future. We have been digging in what I call brainstorming sessions. We have created the Vision 20/20 team who have been tilling in that abstract plot to prepare a fertile seed bed for the steps that we will be planting in the next 5 to 7 years as our Piedmont UU Church grows.
Just like in a physical garden, our steps have a season for planting and harvest. The operational plan developed from your inputs as we dug through our thoughts for the future tell us and our committees and counsels when to plant each step and when to enjoy the fruits of our work. Now, the plans of mice and men are not always followed. How can we till when the ground is too wet? We may have to wait a few days. Maybe a few of the seeds do not germinate. We may have to plant a later variety of lettuce or tomato. Likewise I can foresee a few setbacks as we implement our operational plan but that does not mean that we quit.  We just adapt and carry on as a loving church family tending our garden to nourish both ourselves and the wider community.
With this last monthly letter from me, your president, I wish us all happy gardening. 
Karl

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