I used to hate November.....

Being a results-oriented-impatient-type-girl, I used to hate November. It was an unnecessary step to December. Typically, a cold and gray month in Minnesota; it ranks up there in Winter bleakness with February. Another not so favorite month. November is a long month, a delay, a holding period for the vivid warmth and color and light of December. November is the irritating math drill for learning the multiplication tables, its sweeping even corner of the kitchen after removing the chairs and garbage can before mopping. It's the set up, the details, the preparation for things better to come. November is the slow rise to the mountain top, the growing and decision making angst that tears and absorbs and inquires and questions. I used to hate November, but now, I am not in so much of a hurry. The world is hurrying around me already.

If it weren't for November, December would not come. If it weren't for November, I would not be ready for December. The leaves need to fall in November, the wood stacked, the Christmas lights hung outside, the conferences scheduled, the Christmas choir organized, the plans prepared so that December can come. AND in the midst of all of that, we take a day to be thankful. How can I not find November enduring? It's the set up for good things to come.