The view from my office overlooks the beautiful landscape of nature. The four wide windows are my personal theater into a world of great beauty and mystery. At times it feels like I’m in a tree house, overlooking a sea of trees.
Some days my eyes catch birds resting on a branch, squirrels jumping from one tree to another and turkeys making the forest their playground.
This time of the year I delight in autumn colors. I am inspired by the scenery and scent of fall. Autumn can be a season of great beauty, but also a time of transition.
Days grow shorter. Winter looms around the corner. Summer days are behind us, school days are upon us. Outdoor activities give way to leaves falling and having to rake them.
Although autumn is a great season, for some it brings sadness. This, too, was my feeling until I read Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation by Parker J. Palmer. Palmer invites his readers to listen to the inner voice and follow its lead towards a greater meaning and purpose.
In one particular chapter he makes a wonderful connection between changes in the seasons compared to the seasons in one’s life.
“In the autumnal events of my own experience,” Parker writes, “I am easily fixated on surface appearances–on the decline of meaning, the decay of relationships, the death of work. And yet if I look more deeply, I may see the myriad of possibilities being planted to bear fruit in some seasons yet to come.”
Wow! His writing changed my perspective not only of nature’s seasons, but also of autumn as a season in life. Palmer reminds us that in autumn the seeds are being planted that will bear fruit in the spring.
Instead of seeing the decline, decay and even death which are part of this season, we should focus on the hope of new life that is to come.
Can you see the seeds of hope being planted in your life? Is the loss of a job the opportunity for you to pursue your dream? How does the “road closed” sign lead you to a path with greater opportunities? I welcome your thoughts, questions and examples of seeds of hope.
In Ecclesiastes 3:11 states, He has made everything beautiful in its time. My prayer is: Lord, help us see the beauty of autumn and the seeds of hope being planted in our lives.
