Dear Friends of Northlea,

It’s vacation time and all our staff and Council are looking forward to a break. I want to take this opportunity to thank both staff and Council for their dedication to the ministry and mission at Northlea. Their time and energy is invaluable and I do hope everyone has a lovely summer holiday, coming back in the Fall with renewed energy. Thank you also to all who show up to lend a hand on Sundays and mid-week. You are a treasure! May you all find time to be present with your families and friends, your gardens, your cottages, your travels and hobbies. Enjoy the sunshine and conversations that rise up each day and notice the joy of the simple things. 

Sadly, even though it is summer holiday time, the needs of our family members, neighbors and strangers don’t take a vacation. We will be called on, each in our own way, to respond to the various challenges that arise. May we discern with care the ways in which we might be a source of compassion, kindness and support. God equips us all differently and so we must determine prayerfully how to share the gifts we have been given. I pray that wisdom will be our guide and that mercy will inspire our offerings.

While I am away, pastoral care will be available through Leaside United and Leaside Presbyterian Church. However, I do want to know if something serious happens and you have a need for prayers or consolation. So feel free to call or text if needed 416-432-1514.

For summer reflection I offer a poem by Mary Oliver  . . .  

The Summer Day

Who made the world?

Who made the swan, and the black bear?

Who made the grasshopper?

This grasshopper, I mean —

the one who has flung herself out of the grass,

the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,

who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down —

who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.

Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.

Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.

I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.

I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down

into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,

how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,

which is what I have been doing all day.

Tell me, what else should I have done?

Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?

Tell me, what is it you plan to do

with your one wild and precious life?

Warm summer blessings,

Lee-Ann