Autumn takes center stage mid the heat of September and exits on cue in the cold of December. No other season moves from one extreme to the other like Autumn. The poets help us see the complexity of Autumn.
Autumn Haze
"Across the pearly distance it lies on hill and stream,
In banks of airy turquoise as softly as a dream.
A slumberous smoke that rises serenely in the cold;
From autumn woodlands blazing in flames of rosy gold."
...Richard Munkittrick
Autumn has a radiance, a flavor, a color, a mystique, and a mind of its own. A lot like life! If we can appreciate the complexity, the ups-and-downs, the highs-and-lows of Autumn, we can appreciate life.
September
"The goldenrod is yellow, the corn is turning brown,
The trees in apple orchards with fruit are bending down.
By all these lovely tokens September's days are here,
With summer's best of weather and autumn's best of cheer."
...Helen Hunt Jackson
God gave us the seasons; seasons bring change; change is what life is all about. Autumn reminds us that life is one continual adjustment-to-change. Autumn says, " Life is here. Accept life as it is. And be of good cheer."
October
"October's lap holds patches of red and gold and brown.
She wheedled them from summer to make herself a gown.
And when the song is finished she'll stretch her arms again
And dance a little rondo to the music of the rain."
...Helen Mahan
October blows hot, and then blows cold. We never know quite what to expect from her. So it is with life!
November
"The mellow year is hastening to its close;
The little birds have almost sung their last;
Their small notes twitter in the dreary blast,
That shrill-piped harbinger of early snows;
...Hartley Coleridge
Autumn is a reminder that we move from birth to death, from the beginning of life to the closing of our days here on earth.
A December Day
"Dawn turned on her purple pillow, and late came the winter day;
Snow was curved to the boughs of the willow, the sunless world was white and grey.
At noon we heard a blue-jay scolding; at five the last cold light was lost
From blackened windows faintly holding the feathery filigree of frost."
...Sara Teasdale
So, winter comes. We shiver at the thought of cold dreary days. We shiver at the thought that we are closer to the end of life than ever before.
Autumn is a time to reflect on the complex nature of life. A time to re-think our priorities. A time to marvel at the wonder and beauty of God's world. A time to get closer to God, and to those around us.
Religion on 09/18/2014