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SPRING
2000 
Gloria Horvay
Clerk, Salem Quarterly MeetingDear Friends,
As a Christmas gift my husband gave me a calendar of daily "Meditations, Reflections, & Restoratives for Women Who Do Too Much." The day we had our first snowstorm of the season the daily calendar reading was: "In January, it is especially important to get out in nature. Nature is perspective producing." I confess I was dreading the inconvenience the snow would make in my drive to work. But as I took my early morning walk to the road to get the newspaper, I saw deer tracks in the snow and was overwhelmed by the beauty and serenity of it all.
This morning in meeting, an elderly member stood and recited Robert Frost's well-known poem, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening." Once again I was reminded of the awe and healing power of nature. Watching birds at our feeder produces much the same contentment.
The most memorable part of Frost's poem are the final lines: "For I have promises to keep/And miles to go before I sleep/And miles to go before I sleep." These lines are interpreted differently from person to person. The meaning I have always taken from them is a call to service. What good works are waiting for me to do before I sleep? How can each of us make a difference in our world before we sleep?
Giving is not something we should do only at Christmas time. Truly, the more you give, the more comes back to you. As more people in the world do good works, the world becomes a more peaceful place.
Bringing the spirit of giving to the quarter level, how can we contribute to the work of our monthly meetings and our quarter? Finance Committee seems to have increasing difficulty balancing the budget. Are Friends in the quarter requesting too much money for their committee projects? Do we as members sufficiently support the work our quarter and meeting want to do? Realizing the differences in income levels among members, are those who have more comfortable incomes willing to give extra in order to lighten the burden of those with limited incomes?
Many of our meetings need no more than 79¢, about the cost of a cup of coffee at WaWa, per day from each member to cover the meeting's costs for itself, the quarter, and the yearly meeting. Yet many of our meetings are not able to contribute to the quarter enough to cover the cost of our projects. Why is this? I welcome input and dialog on this subject.
I hope you will join us March 12 in Woodstown for an exciting program. Joe Volk, Executive Director of the Friends Committee for National Legislation, is traveling from Washington, D.C., to talk with us. Talk to you there, and in the meantime, let Mother Nature nurture.
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Last modified:
Wednesday, February 18, 2004 at 08:19 AM
