A reading from South Carolina’s first poet laureate Archibald Rutledge highlighted the September meeting of the Center Hill Community Club.

Club member Cathy Clearman read a selection from Rutledge’s book “Life’s Extras” titled “The Guidance of the Heart.” An American poet and educator, Rutledge wrote 50 books and many poems, usually about his hunting and life experiences in South Carolina.

“At any rate, I know that a thoughtful consideration of life’s extras has done more to give my faith in God actual conviction than all the sermons I ever heard,” Clearman read. “My knowledge of theology is hardly more ample than that of a bushman of Borneo; but I am absolutely unshaken in my faith that God created us, loves us, and wants us not only to be good but to be happy. He ministers to our bodies by the necessities that abound in the world; and to our spirits by the beauty that adorns creation. One has no difficulty in discovering, in the vast scheme of things, an extraordinary, an exciting, provision and prevision. As a philosophy, I know not if this will stand; but I do know that a belief in it has brought me close to God.

“I cannot regard the fiery funeral of foliage old as accidental, nor the gorgeous pageantry of a sunset as anything but the manifestation of divine art,” Clearman continued. “I stood recently on the shores of a mountain lake at sundown after a heavy rain, and watched for an hour the magnificence of the West; the huge clouds smoldering, the long lanes of emerald light between them, and then isolated clouds like red roses climbing up son oriel window of the sky, the deep refulgence behind it all. Superb as it was, momently it changed, so that I saw, in reality, a score of sunsets. I looked across the lonely, limpid lake, past the dark forest, far into the heart of the flaming, fading skies. I was sure that God had done that; moreover, that He had done it for a purpose. When did He ever do anything idly? And what was the purpose? Surely to fill the hearts of His children with a sense of beauty and of awe, and to teach them of His loving care.

“Neither a day-dawning nor a sunset (with all its attendant beauty) is really a necessity. It is one of life’s extras. It is a visit to an incomparable art gallery; and no one has to pay any admission fee. The human mind, being somewhat proud and perverse, may be inclined to reject this kind of proof of God’s love. But the human heart can hardly do so. And in things spiritual I do not know but that the heart is by far the better guide,” Clearman read.

Club president Robin Doerner opened the meeting with the following quote: “Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.” Robert Louis Stevenson.

Lou Limerick presented an opening prayer remembering those in the community in need and asking God’s blessings for the meeting’s refreshments.

Stanley Lucky’s safety report was about stormy weather awareness.

“Storms can come up suddenly and not last very long, but do a lot of damage in a short period of time,” Lucky said.

He also noted the region is still in the midst of hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30, with September and October being the most active months.

The club expressed appreciation to Rick Daniels for hanging a memorial frame for Gloria Hughes, as well as his grass cutting skills, plumbing skills, and roofing skills.

The meeting adjourned with the Pledge of Allegiance led by Caroline Wilson

• Submitted by Cathy Clearman, reporter.