It’s not what you look at that matters,
it’s what you see.
-Henry David Thoreau-
As I reflect on the transition from the season of Summer to Autumn, there are a host of memories that flood my mind, some of which I am pleased to find while others are lost, or I choose to decline. I remember this last week-end of Summer as a time when the family gathered at the lake cottage one more time to do what we’d done every Sunday. The add on was taking out the docks, bringing in the boats, closing the cottage and saying good-bye to this special place to make way for another season of grace.
Today is different. Most all the people I grew up with are scattered to the wind in form and spirit, which means the generations have continued to move on in time and space. The cottage was sold, the matriarchs and patriarchs died, the children became parents/grandparents and the mobility of our ever changing landscape put people in different places and spaces. It’s now another season and yet the joy, laughter, humor and humus of newness continues wherever we choose to bring abundant life to life. It all continues to grow, change and rearrange.
The magic of childhood is now captured in the freshness of another season, another opportunity to experience new ways of being and becoming something that begins with another ending. There’s a new beauty, a new mood in each season. There’s a sense of aliveness that embraces the changes we go through with each seasonal change within ourselves, our environment and those around us. Summer gives us permission to play and relax while Autumn asks us to ponder the changes that inevitably will strip us bare of everything physical.
Ripeness begins to fill the air as we look across the threshold of Summer’s end to the beginning of Autumn. When August turns to September there’s a shift in consciousness, a bidding farewell to that which has been and a greeting to that which can be. It’s another rite of passage we count as both loss and gain, gratitude and liberation. Rustling in the cool morning breeze, the leaves speak of fertility and bliss to me, of transforming apples to cider and trees into gold, red and orange scenes of endings and new beginnings. What do you see?
The soul of the season speaks to the innermost places of our Being. Listening deeply to the crickets in the fields, the leaves fluttering on the trees, the geese flying free; we can once again discover our interconnectivity. We move with the rhythm of the tides, of the changes and rearranges that come with each new season of our lives. Our children leave for school and eventually follow the rule of leaving home to build their own while we, in advancing age, can grow into sagely wisdom honoring the many roads less traveled and not.
Boldly we walk alone together into the Autumn of our lives, into the mystery of our lows and highs. We stand together as the leaves again drop from the trees to become a bed for those who will lie sleeping underneath the blanket of Winter ease. “Taste and see,” she says to me; Mother Nature seeing me on bended knee. “Abundant life is yours with every season, see?” I stand in awe, knowing the eventual fall into her bosom who so lovingly holds it all. The divine light of Summer gives way to Autumn’s call. . . . A gift, for all. . . .
Let us say farewell to this soulful season of Summer as it lingers on in the heat of the days to make way for the Autumn season that cools the nights and opens newly colored ways. Blessings abound as we let go what has been to let come what will be; as we all together sing our songs in another changing reality. Come what may, we smile today as leaves transform and new life is born in the migration of time. The humorous rule that fires the fool to see everything as play is here laughing today. Have a fantastic wonder-filled day as you smile awhile and laugh a lot, giving Life all you’ve got. . . . Are you smiling yet? ? ?
• As you bid farewell to Summer and give greetings to Autumn, make some space every day to embrace the grace of each season. Reflect on this past Summer and what it’s opened for you in this new season of Autumn, and what you’d like to bring it to. Give attention to your intentions and live into them daily. . . .
• As you make this transition, reclaim your sense of humor. Open yourself to the wonder of all that’s here in this life. Feel the coolness of the evening with a smile, the warmth of the days with laughter, the gentleness of the morning with a grin that encourages you begin again.
• Finally, recognize the soulful season of life you’re in and take whatever sad song you’re singing and make it better, better, better. . . Ahh yes, it is a brand new day! ! ! !
Blessings,
Fr. Rick+