We gather together, and we gather stuff. Both are good.

I've been thinking a lot lately about what it means to gather. My next week's Sunday School lesson is on the Gathering of the House of Israel, so it's been on my mind.

This past week, I had several opportunities to gather.

Friday, I drove to Rexburg to gather with Eli and Amanda. Our gathering wasn't particularly monumental, but it was lovely nonetheless. We watched movies, ate popcorn, drank soda, played cards, and watched TV. We stayed up late into the night talking. We gathered together.

Saturday morning, my friend Lindsey's daughter, Hanna, was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Many family members, Eyres and Mechams alike, gathered from Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana to be with Hanna on this day, and I was privileged to gather with them. As I sat in the chapel awaiting Hanna's turn in this large stake baptism, I marveled at the joy of so many cousins together. They are all different ages, and most don't live near each other, but they gathered with obvious gladness to be reunited. Families are eternal, including extended families, and the Eyre/Mecham family is a shining example of what it means to nurture eternal relationships. We gathered together.

Saturday evening, I gathered for dinner with Eli and Amanda and their friend, Ben. Ben had been brining a pork roast for five days, and Saturday he cooked it and shared it with all of us. It was a simple meal, just the delicious pork, some potatoes and salad, but there was a spirit of grace in Ben's kind offer of this food that he had prepared all week. Thank you, Ben. We gathered together.

Sometimes we gather physically, and other times we gather in spirit. In just a couple weeks, we will gather to celebrate Thanksgiving. Some of us will gather here; some of us will gather in Rexburg a couple days later. At no point will we all be together physically, but always we are together in spirit because of the love we share as a family. We will gather together.

Earlier in the week, before I left town, Shulamth and I spent several hours gathering, not people, but stuff. When you gather stuff, it's not nearly as fun as when you gather people, but it's still pretty gratifying. Twice yearly, the City of Sandy sends around a large truck to pick up stuff. They will take anything you leave out in front of your house, anything at all: furniture, yard clippings, branches, trash, old bicycles, tires, wood, dead bodies--okay, maybe not that--but just about anything else.

Well you can imagine how this is heaven for an OCD girl like me. Shulamith and I clipped and clipped branches from our yard. We clipped the peach tree, the rose bush, and miles of blackberry bushes (who in his right might mind would plant all this crap in a yard?), and we made a beautiful pile in front of our house. It's not the highest pile in the neighborhood, but it's definitely competitive, and we are proud. Then we cleaned out the garage and backyard shed. Clear it out, baby...woo! We gathered stuff.

Sometimes we gather together. Sometimes we gather stuff. Both are good. Because when we gather, we are stronger, stronger in purpose, stronger in might, stronger in unity. And our garage gets clean too, so win/win.