FALL 2006
ummer is here—with its endless vista of green trees and bushes and grass. By the time you read this, the very first hints of autumn will be in the air: the occasional red leaf on the hemlocks, the occasional golden branch on the buttonwoods. But it will still be mostly summer, with hot days predicted, with lawns still ready for afternoon picnics, and lakes still warm enough for evening swimming.
In theory, life will be getting busier again: the kids returning to school, vacations done, summer flex time over at work. For me, however, autumn tends to be the slowing down time. Summer gets so rushed: with weddings and conferences and visits to and from relatives and friends. The cooling air of September brings with it a chance to settle down once again to a lingering cup of hot tea on the patio before beginning the day's routine, spending an extra half hour watching the young geese playing some variety of "catch me if you can" on the lake below our house.
It is also a time of play and wonder. I remember, when I was a child, watching flying squirrels soaring from a tree high on the hills, down over the long line of dropping maples and pines, to the valley below. They did this more in autumn than at any other time. My mother told me, when I asked, "Autumn is the time when we see the most playing among the animals. They are enjoying those days between the hard labor of summer and the deep chill of winter."
I have entered the autumn of my life. My children are grown, and are beginning summer's work. My grandchildren are just beginning their own long climb in life, are just beginning to bloom in the sunlight of their own joy and delight. I feel blessed to be able to see three seasons about me. And to see a fourth also—as I watch those I love die, and move on to a world I cannot yet perceive. God is here in all these seasons: with my grandchildren in their early childhoods, with my children in their young adulthoods, with Mario and me as we grow a harvest of spiritual maturing, with those who have gone before me to a new life I can only glimpse through a dark mirror.
May God be with each of you, in whatever season of life you are in: blessing you and keeping you. May you find joy and peace and love in all the days and all the nights to come.
Sondra Ball
Clerk, Salem Quarterly MeetingRETURN TO TABLE OF CONTENTS
Last modified:
Sunday, August 20, 2006 at 12:19 AM
