The lessons that nature teaches us are on display all around us each and every day. All we have to do is listen and being fortunate enough to live in an area the has a distinct four seasons, I am lucky to experience these changes and I am grateful for it.
For many years I am ashamed to say that I never really enjoyed or contemplated too much about it, but lately, I can’t help but be amazed and think about all that the changes of the season bring to the world. Right now it is autumn in Maine and that means that each and every day you will see a wide array of colors, red, yellow, orange and even brown. This change where once there was only green makes you think and often about gratitude.
On the Surface
Seeing the leaves change is a pretty miraculous thing. To think that nature knows exactly how to work itself for the trees to survive is amazing, and further than that there is the show they put on. I have been fortunate enough to see, bright-colored leaves reflecting on the still waters of a fall lake surface. It brings many thoughts to my mind as I look at the colors and understand them for what they are. Harbingers of what is to come and we merely need to listen to hear their warnings and to learn from them.
Change Is Constant
One of the best reminders of fall is that change is happening all around us all the time.
You may not be able to see it visually, but everything is changing all the time. These variations are usually never as visual as the leaves but they are as real. Each relationship, job, and personal journey is changing all the time.
No matter what you do and no matter what you think of your current circumstances, it matters little because soon they will be different because things are always changing. Just like the fall will eventually give up its life to the oncoming winter, so must we learn to let go of our attachments to this life.
It is the values of these changes that make them appear good or bad. Yet aren’t they simply just experiences? The fall season helps me to contemplate and understand the changes that are happening in life all the time. I have a gratefulness inside for all of the changes that have happened in my life and that growth is not possible without change.
Endings Are Just Endings
Another great thought of fall is the twilight of the year, the ending of summer and how this season represents an ending in our lives. The phrase “The Autumn of our Lives”, captures this effectively.
I have a problem with this phrase because we simply do not know with any kind of certainty when this life is going to end. it may be over in five minutes or it may last another 30-40 years. Nobody knows.
When you look at the fall it will have an ending, just as all of our lives will, but there is a hidden promise in the fall. It is there in every nostalgic feeling and thought, that eventually, the spring and beautiful summer will come again. We just need to be patient. All things will eventually end, that is the way that the universe works. All things have a beginning, a middle and an ending.
This is not a bad thing, it is only a thing. So it teaches you to enjoy the summer, or the fall or the winter or whatever season you are experiencing right now because that is all you have right now. There may never be another summer to look forward to, so not completely enjoying today is a foolhardy choice.
The fall makes me grateful for each and every day and what it has to offer.
Autumn officially began on Sunday
Autumn: Turning Over A New Leaf
