Autumn 2022 began on September 22 with the Autumnal Equinox and will end on December 21 with the Winter Solstice. This three-month transition between seasons of summer and winter, is an opportunity to balance energies between mind, body and spirit. I choose to contemplate the many movements Autumn presents: through acts of “letting go;” with harvesting of memories; in gathering wisdom; and by expressing gratitude. When I am able to do that, I sense a deeper connection to the Earth, and, through Nature, to our Creator God. It gives me renewed energy and hope!
Contemplating reminders of “letting go” come easily as I walk on paths strewn with maple seeds, acorns and brilliant-colored leaves falling from elegant trees…
Contemplating the harvest with its bounty from a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, grains and blossoms, leads me to recollect treasured memories of my ancestors and those spiritual wisdom figures from history who have touched my heart…
Contemplating the busy squirrels, cheeks filled with nuts, acorns, seeds, scurrying to their nests in anticipation of the winter ahead, and, those noisy geese flying in formation overhead to warmer resting places….my spirit wants to gather in and follow their wisdom from Nature…
Contemplating gratitude, as this third Autumn of Pandemic suggests signs of “winding down,” I celebrate the season of Thanksgiving reflecting on how Joyce Rupp describes:
“…a time to look beneath our external lives for the unwavering love, the ceaseless peace, and the enduring strength that lie in the deep waters of our soul. The more we trust the ‘unknowable depths’ of our existence, the more the power of gratitude becomes a song we daily sing.”
Mid-Autumn 2022, then, finds me gratefully reflecting on the unwavering Presence of the Divine through tough times… to grace-filled glimpses of hope.
With that in mind, I share this closing prayer from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., inviting us to:
“Join with Earth and each other, to bring new life to the land, to restore the waters, to refresh the air, to renew the forests, to care for the plants, to protect the creatures, to celebrate the seas, to rejoice in the sunlight, to sing the song of the stars, to recall our destiny, to renew our spirits, to reinvigorate our bodies, to recreate the human community, to promote justice and peace, to love our children and love one another, to join together as many and diverse expressions of one loving mystery, for the healing of the Earth and the renewal of all life.”
May you, good neighbor, find constancy, hope and energy from the Natural world to nurture your mind, body and spirit moving forward. Amen!!