Tonight is the first time in a few years that Susan felt like doing a quintessentially autumnal ordinary meal photo, as she likes to say.

Sometimes Susan and I think the ordinary things that used to seem fun and heartwarming will never hold any charm or interest again, with the losses we have undergone as a family. But we are still on Earth, and trying to live this life with gratitude and joy as we are able while we are here.

If you feel hopeless, overwhelmed, or sad, we commend gratitude to you as a pathway to much healing. Tonight, we are grateful for a surprise drop-in from Rachel and Dale, an invite in the mail to a shower for a new grand baby, and some good news at a doctor appointment.

And pie. I liked it really well.

 -- By the Rev. Tony Collins, senior pastor at Burks United Methodist Church, Hixson, Tennessee, on October 28, 2019.

Tony and Susan Collins lost their son, William Anthony Collins, Jr., on February 28, 2017.