This is a reflection on Rev. Dina’s Hump Day Message of October 4, 2023, “The Work of Love” and the portion which quoted the writer Kahlil Gibran’s statement that, “Work is love made visible”.

I grew up in Carle Place, a one square mile hamlet on Long Island, New York, about thirty miles east of Manhattan Island.  My father started the business, Fichter Florist and Greenhouses, in Carle Place in 1936. This became a family business run by my three siblings who ranged from 11-19 years older than I until they retired in 2000. I worked there, as it was a family business, from the time I was a young boy until I graduated from college, married Suzanne, and came to Washington to work as a patent examiner.

Carle Place has a webpage, You Know you’re from Carle Place if..., which I just recently learned about. It displays a lot of pictures of frogs. (Frogs is the High School mascot which is a different story.) I thought, enough with the pictures of frogs so I posted a picture of my sister Yvonne, in the greenhouse, with the statement that You know you’re from Carle Place if Yvonne made you a floral arrangement or did your wedding.

I was very surprised and pleased by the number of kind comments made to the post and never expected the range of appreciation expressed by people who engaged with the love shown in my family’s work at least twenty and more like thirty to forty years ago. Clearly, these comments expressed that work is love made visible, and even small kindness, which is love, endures, in some cases, apparently for a lifetime.

It was something I never realized or appreciated until I read the posted comments. It is something we all have received and can give. Kindness is love and is giving of yourself wherever you are. It may be at work, at home, at play and especially at church. It may be a small thing, such as a gift of a single flower, or larger such as a tithe.  In every case, the gift of kindness may, perhaps, last forever, but always makes you feel better. What more can you ask?

10/22: WALK IN LOVE SUNDAY

bring items for the Food Pantry (dry beans, white rice, canned meats, pasta sauce, cereal, canned fruit, ramen, tomato (stewed and diced), dry pasta) & we’ll walk them together over and get a tour of the pantry!

and

10/29: CELEBRATION SUNDAY

Bring a soup or salad and stay for a special fellowship celebrating the ways Epiphany participates in showing Love Never Ends.

God Loves You. No Exceptions.