Good morning, good God!
I’m back from my summer sojourn, Lord,
first to the mountains and then to the sea,
and I noticed upon my return
that already you’ve begun
to put your brush to your palette,
giving us all a preview of your color scheme
for this fall’s leafy fashion show…
Summer’s barely gone
but autumn hastens now
to follow her on stage
in a riot of colors:
bright, muted, glowing, speckled,
purpled, brushed and burnished
by the artistry, the eye divine,
the glory of your grace…
Seasons change
and seasons change
and season come and go
and season come again
and seasons change
and something in me longs
to stall the seasons changing:
to stay the summer’s end
and hold back the dying
bound to come each time this year
when the sunlight plays
its game of hide and seek…
But this is fall’s time, Lord:
when a nip in the air quickens my step and pace;
when barren branches scratch their prayers
across a harvest moon;
when autumn’s rare, spare beauty
whispers psalms of praise
within my heart…
Inside and out, Lord,
my soul and body stand between the seasons:
no change in nature’s phases fails
to change in turn
the seasons of my heart…
The rhythms of creation,
of suns and planets, moons and tides
all echo in my heart and my soul knows
how all that lives must die
and how all that dies will rise again
when comes that last and longed-for spring
that has no end,
that will not change
but will remain
when I forever live in you
as you, Lord,
live now in me…
Without grieving an hour’s sunlight
or the joy of a warm day’s kiss,
while holding close the memories
of rolling seas and mountain heights,
walk me into fall, Lord,
with autumn’s leafy glory dropping down,
gently – a russet carpet – a path for me
to walk from summer into fall,
from season into season,
from change to change
until all things, all times, all life
converges to be one in you
my ever changeless
ever loving,
ever living God…
Help me let go, Lord,
what I hold too tightly,
what cannot last the whole year through
and let my empty arms embrace
what cannot last the whole year through
and let my empty arms embrace
and trust
that even in the changes,
in the falling,
in the dying,
– you are with me –
present and abiding in the seasons
all the seasons
of my life…
Receive my prayer today, Lord,
an offering of the seasons
that turn and change
and age me:
these seasons of your mercy,
these seasons of your grace
these seasons marking all the years
I live and grow in you…
Amen.
