I really love living in a place that experiences all four seasons with equal enthusiasm. The vibrant energy of summer is so alive and compelling, beckoning you outside to play, to drink in the bounteous glory of the earth, it’s heat sinking through the skin, bleaching the bones.
The colorful vibrancy of flowers, plants, and vegetables all growing fervently and producing the most beautiful and tasty fruit of the ground is intoxicating me. I am always just a little sad to see summer come to an end, but am also glad that the season following it holds its own kind of grandeur.
And so flows the rhythm of the seasons of life. For the past few days, I have watched the beautiful white hydrangeas on their woody stems prepare themselves for what is coming next. I’ve been intrigued as all of its generous leaves have begun their silent dance, twisting downward around the stem. The blooms are turning brown.
Intelligently designed, Nature instinctively knows just what to do to prepare itself for the next season. It has often been said that Fall teaches us how to let go with grace and ease, and indeed it does if we are paying attention. How many times have we stayed in a situation, a relationship, a job past its season because we were fearful of letting go, because we couldn’t see what was coming next? I know I have.
But these days, I make it a priority to live more simply, like nature, more attuned to my surroundings, my body, mind, and spirit, and to those in the community around me. I am more mindful that whatever has happened in the past is behind me now and whatever lies ahead of me in the future I can only affect by my attention to living in the present moment today. All I have that I can impact and influence is today, this present moment, and I want to live it fully alive, fully aware, purposefully, intentionally with great love and reverence, serving mankind as best I can and giving thanks always for this space in time, this season, this inexpressible gift of life.
And, I want to be able to let go with perfect ease and natural grace of those things that no longer serve me well in that quest whatever it might be. Because I have learned that there has to be a letting go to allow space for the next right to enter our lives.
