The Whisper of the Autumn Wind

I have always welcomed the coming of autumn—when I was a child, it meant going back to school, which I loved, and the end of the summer’s heat, which I hated. Increasing darkness didn’t bother me (more time to read in the evenings!), and something in me responded to the lovely melancholy of leaves changing color and insects quieting.

I remember being astonished when I first learned that some people don’t like autumn because they find the increasing darkness and the death cycle of the earth depressing. As I have gotten older, I have gained a greater appreciation for this perspective. Still, the darkness and reminder of death provide an opportunity to practice trust that new life will follow on the heels of the autumn and winter of our lives. As Fr. Edward Hays said in Prayers for a Planetary Pilgrim, “Though the whisper of winter and of death is upon the autumn wind, we greet this autumn season in the joy of the resurrection.”

Recently I came across an amazing quote from a desert elder, who was asked, “How come you are never discouraged?” He answered, “Because every day I expect to die.” Let us not be discouraged by the earth’s yearly death cycle and our own daily call to die to self. The quiet breath of God’s Spirit dwells below the surface of the sleeping earth and our own fallow periods, and at the appointed time new life will emerge.