Inspiration and enlightenment ...

I'm a fan of Robert Frost's poetry. One of his early pieces, "A time to talk" is often used in my funeral reflections, because it reminds us to take the time to build relationships and talk to the people around us. I also like his much loved, "The Road Not Taken ..."

The lone traveller standing on the road looking up one path and then another reminds us of the importance of choosing our path well ... In Minnedosa we have and do and will continue to find ourselves standing at many forks in the road where we will face the choice of which path shall we trod ... The big moments will be choosing an architect, creating plans for the new church, and committing to the rebuild ... but we face smaller moments of decision all the time. In our journey it has been about words spoken or forgotten, actions taken or not, gifts accepted or declined ... and so on. When we choose a path, we commit to a course of action. And there are repercussions ... we face choices all the time - it's part of life. The important thing in our choices is considering the support, care and nurture of those around us ... particularly in the challenges that we've faced since our fire.

This week as a community we found ourselves on a path where the chosen actions have produced wonderful moments of inspiration and enlightenment for most of us:

ON Tuesday night the much anticipated, and long awaited evening of music finally happened. Minnedosa played host to a number of young people involved in choirs in the Winnipeg area school division of Pembina Valley, who came to share their ample talent and provide us with a much needed night of entertainment. It was truly inspiring ...

The choirs were under the able leadership of Ruth Wiwchar (a woman with roots that run deep into Minnedosa - Ruth is a talented musician in her own right, and her Mom Jean Stephenson was a vertiable institution in Minnedosa with many years of leading the various incarnations of the Junior Choir that are remembered so fondly.). The young people came and enjoyed a meal put on my the AOTS Mens Club, then we had a two hour evening of music provided by the young people as well as our Senior Choir, and a variety of local singers, groups, and ensembles.

It was a terrific night. The music was great, and the night collected over 3000 dollars for our rebuilding effort ... Thanks to Ruth and her young people for coming and sharing their talents with us, thanks to Hilda C for putting the pieces together so wonderfully, thanks to the local folks who came and enthralled us with their singing, and thanks to those who rounded out the evening. It was good to have a such a large group of people together to support us in our journey ... It was by and large a wonderful evening.

Then last night the Building Committee meet once again. This night, they began the process of interviewing potential architects to help us in the process.

It was an enlightening experience. Hearing the sales job from these men who want to work with us was inspiring, but they also managed to give us much to think about. All of us around the table took notes, and we picked up on different things, and thought of new ideas that hadn't yet popped up on our "radar screens."

There are more interviews to come, but the process continues. We may be a few weeks from our final selection, but there is little doubt that the process is in the hands of very competent and capable people ...

With each little step the journey continues ...

May we have the eyes to see and the hearts to care about those around us,
and may we have the courage and boldness to speak and walk in faith ...