The Gathering

I saw this painting displayed at a small kiosk in the Abbotsford Airport one day last fall as I was saying goodbye to an adult child departing. At a time when I was grieving the loss of summer and family times together,  this scene immediately captured my heart with its bright fresh colours and expression of the Gulf Islands on a sunny summer day.  The artist is Graham Herbert, a resident of Hornby Island, one of my favourite places.  I went there frequently as a child and remember long days on the sandy beaches, making sandcastles and moats and walking along amazing sandstone beaches in their varied shapes.  It is a fresh and happy painting of boats together.  I can almost hear the waves gently lapping and the gurgle of water against the boats.  I can smell the warmth of the salty sea and a touch of new paint.

This painting is aptly called "The Gathering."  Now is a time of gathering.  We gather together in love and holding in the aftermath of tragedy.  We gather together to support one another and care.  We gather together for the celebration of Christmas and for family.  We include others in the gathering.  Reach out and gather in those others standing alone.  Include those for whom the general gathering only makes the aloneness all the more acute. For many this time of gathering will bring afresh the grieving and pain of missing those no longer here.

For us, over these next days and weeks our far-flung children are slowly and gently returning home.  The Christmas gathering is beginning.  Things are shifting once again in the family dynamics.  Each unique boat is returning to tie up in our bay for a time.  Those that are here regularly are excited, and have to move over.  The mooring places are being rearranged and the waters are stirred a bit.  It is comforting to have the bay full with boats unique and brightly coloured.  Some have deepened in their colour and charm since we were last together.  Others have had some paint peel and some new dents. Together I hope that we gather to support and care.  It is not always easy or as happy in real life as in this idyllic scene.  Old tensions do erupt.  Patterns long gone bubble to the surface again.  As parents we need to be sensitive.   The ropes that bound tightly when the kids were younger need to be loosened often considerably.  They are their own captains now.  Sometimes the extra sway causes some collisions.  Gathering implies coming of ones own accord and enfolding.  My arms are open to gather in the secure mooring place of our home.  May I have the sensitivity and wisdom to gather in ways that are healthy and inclusive while allowing uniqueness and self direction.  It may all be more jumbled than this painting implies.  That is okay.  Still, the colour and order of this gathering image will help keep my heart calm and at peace with hope for happy days of warmth and rich flavour together in the gathering.  It reminds me that God gathers us to Himself in love and care.   His sheltering cove is waiting as a place of peaceful and safe moorage.  Welcome home to my loved ones.